2 Accused Of Stealing Michigan Funding For Veterans: Nessel

MICHIGAN — Two people have been arraigned for stealing $470,000 in money meant for U.S. veterans, the Michigan Attorney General's Office said Monday.

Melissa R. Flores, 53, and Stephen Decker, 32, are accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Michigan Department of Treasury out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting fraudulent documents in support of claims for VA survivor benefits and Michigan Unclaimed Property, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced. A third individual has been charged in connection with this fraud but has not yet been arraigned, the AG's office said.

“Committing fraud against our state or federal agencies that directly give back to their communities will not be tolerated,” Nessel said. “Our veterans voluntarily put their lives on the line in service to this country to protect the freedoms and liberties we as U.S. citizens enjoy. For someone to take advantage of the public benefits set aside for their families is a slap in the face to servicemen and women across the country.”

The AG's Office said Flores, of Westland, is charged with:

• one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, a felony punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment, $100,000 fine and forfeiture of proceeds and items used during the crime;
• two counts of false pretenses between $20,000 and $50,000, a felony punishable by 15 years’ imprisonment, $15,000 fine or three times the value of the money or property involved, whichever is greater;
• forgery of documents affecting real property, a 14-year felony; and
• four counts of false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000, a felony punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine or three times the value of the money or property involved, whichever is greater.

Decker, of Wyandotte, is charged with one count of criminal enterprises – racketeering proceeds, a felony punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment, $100,000 fine and forfeiture of proceeds and items used during the crime, Nessel said.

According to Nessel, Flores and a co-conspirator created aliases and obtained or created fraudulent documents, including vital records like birth certificates, to make it appear that they were heirs to various individuals who had died.

Through the scheme, which the AG's office said was active between 2013 and 2019, the two accused obtained more than $40,000 of unclaimed property from the Michigan Department of Treasury and more than $430,000 from the VA. Decker, the AG's office said, received proceeds from the scheme and used some of the money to conceal property used to conduct the fraud.

A third person has been charged with conducting a criminal enterprise and multiple counts of false pretenses, the AG's office said. The identity of the suspect has not been released .