Toms River Motel Owner Gets 3-Year Term In $81,000 Sandy Fraud

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The owner of a Toms River motel has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing more than $81,000 in FEMA funds by fraudulently claiming the motel temporarily housed victims of Superstorm Sandy, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said Friday.

Sandipkumar Patel, 44, of Edison, who pleaded guilty on Sept. 26 to a second-degree charge of theft by deception, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in Ocean County, Porrino said.

Patel, who owns the Americana Motel on Route 166 in Toms River with his wife, has paid full restitution, Porrino said.

Patel admitted that he fraudulently obtained $81,567 from the FEMA Transitional Shelter Assistance (TSA) program. Under the program, FEMA directly paid participating hotels and motels for rooms temporarily occupied by residents displaced by Superstorm Sandy. FEMA paid the Americana Motel $133.28 per day for each room occupied by storm victims, Porrino said.

The joint federal and state investigation revealed that Patel fraudulently billed FEMA in the names of 11 individuals under the TSA program. Eight of them never stayed at the motel at all, while the other three stayed for shorter periods than were billed, or, in one case, shared a room that Patel already had billed to FEMA in the name of the other occupant, the state said. In some cases, Patel falsely billed for stays of multiple weeks or even months. He billed FEMA more than $50,000 in the names of several of his personal relatives who live in New Jersey but were not displaced by the storm, the state said.

“This assistance program enabled motel owners to shelter Sandy victims while still collecting a reasonable room rate, but Patel was more interested in stealing relief funds than helping victims,” Porrino said. “We’ll continue our aggressive efforts to prosecute greedy individuals like Patel who committed fraud and diverted relief funds from deserving recipients.”

“Working with our federal and state partners, we’ve charged more than 70 people with defrauding Sandy relief programs, and our investigative efforts on this front are continuing in full force,” Elie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice, said. “Our prosecutions should deter this conduct in future disasters, so that funding is preserved for those who need it most and relief administrators can focus on recovery, not policing fraud.”

This case was investigated jointly by members of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Office of Inspector General. It was investigated and prosecuted for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau by Detective Richard Loufik and Deputy Attorney General Conlow. They worked with Sgt. Fred Weidman and Analyst Alison Callery, under the supervision of Lt. David Nolan, Bureau Chief Michael A. Monahan and Deputy Bureau Chief Mark Kurzawa. Porrino thanked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Office of Inspector General, under the leadership of Special Agent in Charge Gregory Null of the Philadelphia Field Office, and the FEMA Fraud Prevention and Investigation Branch for their work on the investigation.

The Division of Criminal Justice has established a toll-free tip line, 1-866-TIPS-4CJ, for the public to report fraud, corruption and other illegal activities confidentially. Additionally, the public can log on to the Division of Criminal Justice webpage at www.njdcj.org to report suspected wrongdoing.

Deputy Attorney General William N. Conlow prosecuted Patel and handled the sentencing. Robert G. Stahl, Esq., represented Patel.

Americana Motel photo via Google Maps; Sandipkumar Patel photo via NJ Attorney General's Office