Keyport Woman Charged with $9,775 Sandy Fraud

Keyport, NJ - A Keyport woman was one of five more people charged Thursday with trying to trick the federal govt. out of Superstorm Sandy relief funds. 

Catherine Alvira-Przybylski, 45, of Keyport, allegedly fraudulently obtained $9,775 in FEMA rental assistance by submitting fake documents saying she had personally shelled out thousands to find a place to live after Sandy. In reality, FEMA paid for her hotel in Hazlet; the Red Cross paid for an apartment in Keyport, and her son stayed with his father in the weeks and months following the storm, the state Attorney General says.

At the time Sandy struck, Alvira-Przybylski lived in an apartment in Seaside Heights that was damaged by the storm, forcing her to relocate. 

While she legitimately received some help from FEMA, the state says Alvira-Przybylski also tried to be reimbursed by doing the following:

• Allegedly submitted false receipts totaling $2,550 for a security deposit and one month’s rent for an apartment in Keyport. At the same time, FEMA was paying for her to be sheltered in a hotel in Hazlet.
• Allegedly submitted false receipts totaling $5,625 indicating that she paid a security deposit and three months’ rent for another apartment in Keyport. Those expenses were, in fact, paid by the American Red Cross.
• Allegedly submitted false receipts indicating that she paid four months’ rent totaling $1,600 for her son to live with a family friend so he could remain in the school he had been attending.  In fact, the son was living with his father, Alvira-Przybylski’s former husband, at the time, the state says.

She was charged with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification. People from Seaside Heights, Summit, NJ and Philadelphia were also charged with similar alleged scams.