A disaster relief administrator was arrested for allegedly taking bribes from a company that landed $1.8 billion to restore electricity to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Officials arrested Ahsha Nateef Tribble - FEMA’s then deputy administrator for the region that includes Puerto Rico - and Donald Keith Ellison, the former president of a company called Cobra Acquisitions - because it's alleged he gave Tribble airline flights, hotel accommodations, personal security services and the use of a credit card.

In return, Tribble 'used any opportunity she had to benefit Cobra,' said U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez. That allegedly included accelerating payments to the company and pressuring local power authority officials to award it contracts.

Ahsha Nateef Tribble, (pictured), then Deputy Regional Administrator with Federal Emergency Management Agency, was arrested on charges of bribery and fraud in the efforts to restore electricity to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria

Workers are seen repairing electrical installations after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico in September 2017

Ellison also gave a job to a friend of Tribble, Jovanda R. Patterson, who had been FEMA deputy chief of staff in Puerto Rico before resigning in July 2018 to work for Cobra Energy LLC, according to the indictment.

Former FEMA official Patterson was also arrested on a 15-count indictment announced by the U.S attorney's office in Puerto Rico on Tuesday.

The trio were arrested on charges including conspiracy to commit bribery of public officials, acts affecting a personal financial interest, false statements, disaster fraud, and honest services wire fraud, the Department of Justice said.

Authorities said Tribble was arrested Monday in Florida while Ellison was detained in Oklahoma.

Tribble was placed on administrative leave as officials probed the allegations against her.

'These defendants were supposed to come to Puerto Rico to help during the recovery after the devastation suffered from Hurricane Maria,' U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez said.

'Instead, they decided to take advantage of the precarious conditions of our electric power grid and engaged in a bribery and honest services wire fraud scheme in order to enrich themselves illegally.

She added: 'All government officials are entrusted with performing their duties honestly and ethically. The charged offenses are reprehensible, more so in light of PREPA’s and Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis.'

Ahsha Nateef Tribble is accused of accepting gifts from a company who were awarded a contract worth $1.8 billion to restore electricity in Puerto Rico after a hurricane

Rodríguez said that after an explosion at a power plant knocked out power to several towns in February 2018, Tribble pressured power authority officials to use Cobra rather than their own workforce.

'She even told them that if they did not use Cobra, FEMA would not reimburse them," the prosecutor added.

Patterson, meanwhile, was accused of defrauding Cobra by telling the company her salary with FEMA was far larger than it was, and she was offered $160,000 a year to work for Cobra, Rodríguez said.

Following the passage of Hurricane María over Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, Tribble, Ellison, and Patterson came to Puerto Rico as part of the recovery and restoration of Puerto Rico’s electric power grid.

In Tribble’s position as Sector Lead and Deputy Director, she was FEMA’s primary leader as to the restoration of electric power on the island.

From October 2017 to April 2019, Tribble and Ellison 'developed a personal relationship' where Ellison provided Tribble with items of value in an attempt to influence her while performing her job.

Ellison provided Tribble with personal helicopter use, hotel accommodations, airfare, personal security services, and the use of a credit card.

Tribble performed official acts, including influencing, advising, and exerting pressure on PREPA and FEMA officials, in order to award restoration work to COBRA and accelerate payments to COBRA.

The former president of Cobra Acquisitions, Donald Keith Ellison, gave Tribble's friend, Jovanda R. Patterson, a job. All three face charges of bribery and fraud

Tribble, who holds a doctorate in meteorology, was assigned to Puerto Rico for a year, where she was the agency’s energy sector lead

Tribble and Ellison were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery based on soliciting and giving items of value to Tribble in order to influence Tribble’s performance of official acts as a FEMA employee.

They both communicated using private email accounts, private cellular telephones, including a disposable prepaid cellular number, Apple iMessage, and SMS texts rather than work email accounts or cellular telephones.

Douglas A. Leff, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, said: 'While there is no known cure to permanently rid society of corruption, there are certain powerful antidotes, namely, arrests and prosecutions.

'Thanks to our partners at the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and the United States Attorney’s Office, swift and certain justice will be delivered to all those who would steal funds from citizens most in need.'

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Myriam Y. Fernández and Seth Erbe.

If found guilty, the trio are facing possible sentences of up to five years for conspiracy, travel act violations, conflict of interest, and false statements and up to 30 years for honest services wire fraud and disaster fraud.

Beginning in April, authorities began freezing Ellison’s assets, seizing cash, a fishing boat and excavating equipment he owned, according to court records.