A Lakewood, a Paramount and a Texas resident face charges for allegedly filing false claims with two illegally receiving wildfire-disaster funds designed for those who lost homes and other property in the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in January, federal authorities said on Wednesday, March 12.
The three suspects, 36 to 55 years old, were arrested Tuesday and face up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted as charged, in part on allegations they defrauded the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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“These false claims resulted in badly needed disaster-relief money being denied to actual wildfire victims while these defendants allegedly used property information to illegally line their own pockets,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally said.
Following the wildfires, which both started on Jan. 7 in the areas of the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, FEMA offered various forms of relief, from one-time $750 payments to up to $43,600 as well as housing assistance for up to 18 months, authorities said.
The Paramount resident was accused of filing a disaster relief claim for an Altadena property owned by others who did not know him, authorities said. Six days later, the real owners called to file a claim and learned that someone had already filed an application for their property. He apparently never received a payment.
“No victim of a disaster should ever have to go through this troubling experience of secondary victimization,” McNally said.
The Lakewood resident filed a claim for a Pacific Palisades property that she did not own, rent or reside in and received nearly $25,000 in benefits, federal authorities said.
The Texas woman claimed she had a home in Pasadena that was lost in the Eaton fire, but authorities discovered she had never lived in California and had no connection to the property she claimed was destroyed, authorities said. She allegedly forged a lease making it appear she lived there and received more than $25,000.
Authorities Wednesday said she had submitted at least 10 other applications for FEMA relief related to seven other disasters including Hurricane Katrina.
Combined, the Palisades and Eaton wildfires burned nearly 60,000 acres, damaged or destroyed more than 16,000 structures and killed 29 people. Both fires took more than a month to fully contain.