Sandy Fraud Charges Filed Against Two Brick Property Owners

A North Jersey woman and a New York man have been charged with filing fraudulent applications for federal relief funds related to Superstorm Sandy, acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced.

“These individuals are alleged to have callously stolen Sandy relief funds, diverting aid from deserving recipients and forcing administrators to police this fraud instead of working exclusively to assist those hardest hit by the storm,” Hoffman said. “At a time when so many stepped up to help others, these defendants are alleged to have crookedly helped themselves.”

Sandra L. Elliott, 44, of Nutley, is accused of fraudulently obtaining a total of $93,055 by filing false applications for state grants under the Homeowner Resettlement Program (RSP) and the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program. She is accused of falsely claiming that a storm-damaged property she co-owns with her parents on East Coral Drive in Brick was her primary residence at the time Sandy hit.

Prosecutors say her primary residence is in Nutley and that the Brick property is a vacation home.

Elliott received a $10,000 RSP grant and a total of $83,055 in RREM grant payments to repair the Brick property. She allegedly submitted fraudulent rent receipts that falsely indicated that she had leased her Nutley home to a renter prior to the storm. Elliott also applied for a low-interest SBA disaster-relief loan, but her application for an SBA loan was rejected. Elliott is charged with second-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.

William O’Donnell, 62, of St. James, N.Y., is accused of filing fraudulent applications for FEMA assistance, state grants under the Homeowner Resettlement Program and the RREM Program, and state rental assistance under the Sandy Homeowner Rental Assistance Program (SHRAP) funded by the state Department of Human Services. He received a total of $19,176, prosecutors say.

O’Donnell falsely claimed that a storm-damaged property he owned with a relative on Cedar Point Avenue in Brick was his primary residence at the time Sandy hit, prosecutors say, but that his residence was a relative’s home in St. James, N.Y., and the property in Brick was unoccupied.

O’Donnell received $6,741 from FEMA for rental assistance and personal property loss. He also received a $10,000 RSP grant and $2,435 in state rental assistance through the SHRAP program. O’Donnell was awarded the maximum grant of $150,000 under the RREM program, but the award was placed on hold as a result of this investigation and no payments were made. O’Donnell is charged with second-degree attempted theft by deception, third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.

Second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000. Third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $15,000, while fourth-degree charges carry a sentence of up to 18 months in state prison and a fine of $10,000. The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Since March 2014, the Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against 45 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, Hoffman’s office said.