MISSOURI COUPLE SENTENCED FOR FRAUD 

A Missouri couple were sentenced Tuesday for taking more than $200,000 from local residents for post-Hurricane Ivan construction work but not completing it.

William and Anita Morrison, owners of the contracting company Total Response Systems, were convicted in October of bilking scores of Escambia County residents through shoddy construction work.

Circuit Judge Michael Allen sentenced William Morrison Jr. to 12 years in prison. His sentence will run consecutively with a 15-year sentence he received for vehicular manslaughter in Missouri.

Anita Morrison was given six months in jail and 25 years of probation. She also was ordered to stay out of the contracting business.

Pensacola resident Rhonda Gaines-Williams, who fell victim to the Morrisons, was hoping for longer prison sentences.

"The jail time that both of these con artists got was minimal compared to what they did to a lot of people around here," Gaines-Williams said. "I really feel that she was the mastermind behind the money scam and should've gotten more time."

Detective Robert Vose of the Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud helped with the case.

The Morrisons arrived in Pensacola after Ivan struck on Sept. 16, 2004. They were accused of offering their contracting services -- for which they had no license -- between November 2004 and August 2005.