Four More Charged With Superstorm Sandy Fraud Including Toms River Man

Editor's Note: One or more names in this report have been redacted in light of additional documentation provided regarding this case.

Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that four additional individuals were charged criminally today with filing fraudulent applications for federal relief funds related to Superstorm Sandy. Since March, the Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against 20 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, including the four individuals charged today.

The Attorney General’s Office is continuing to aggressively investigate fraud in Sandy relief programs, working jointly with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and the Offices of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

The individuals who have been charged are alleged, in most cases, to have filed fraudulent applications for relief funds offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In some cases, they also applied for funds from a Sandy relief program funded by HUD or low-interest disaster loans from the SBA. The HUD funds are administered in New Jersey by the Department of Community Affairs.

“We allege that these defendants selfishly and deviously stole from federal and state relief programs, diverting funds that are desperately needed for those whose primary homes were battered and left uninhabitable by Superstorm Sandy,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “The harm caused by these thefts is compounded because relief administrators and supporting agencies must dedicate time and resources to pursue these cases, when they should be able to focus exclusively on those in need.”

The Division of Criminal Justice charged the following defendants today by complaint-summons:

• Nabil Girgis, 65, of Toms River, allegedly filed fraudulent applications following Superstorm Sandy for a FEMA grant and for a state grant under the Homeowner Resettlement Program (RSP). Girgis claimed that a storm-damaged residence on Hiering Avenue in Seaside Heights was his primary residence. It is alleged that the Seaside Heights house actually is a two-unit rental property, and his primary residence is in Toms River. Both units of the property in Seaside Heights were allegedly rented to tenants at the time of Superstorm Sandy. Girgis received the maximum amount provided by FEMA, $31,900. He also received a $10,000 RSP grant. In sum, Girgis allegedly received $41,900 through filing fraudulent applications. Girgis is charged with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.

• (name removed)

• Robert T. Bland, 41, whose most recent known address was in Highlands, N.J., allegedly filed a fraudulent application for FEMA rental assistance following Hurricane Sandy. Bland allegedly received a total of $19,385 in federal rental assistance as a result of the false application. Bland allegedly claimed that he was renting a room at the Thunderbird Motel in Seaside Heights at the time of Superstorm Sandy and was displaced as a result of the storm. Although a female friend of Bland had rented a room at the motel a short time before Sandy, she moved out approximately a week before the storm hit, and Bland allegedly never resided with her and her child at the motel. Bland submitted a letter that purported to be from the Thunderbird Motel in support of his application, vouching that he lived there, but the letter allegedly was fraudulent. The room Bland claimed he occupied at the time of the storm actually was occupied by a couple and was not the room that had been rented by his friend. Bland is charged with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.

• Michael A. Vetter, 56, of Bayonne, filed an application for FEMA rental assistance following Hurricane Sandy claiming that he had been displaced from his primary residence on Beach Drive in Little Egg Harbor Township. In order to receive FEMA rental assistance, he allegedly submitted fraudulent documents, including a lease and numerous rental receipts, indicating that he rented an apartment on Kennedy Boulevard in Bayonne from November 2012 through January 2014. It is alleged that, in fact, he never rented the apartment. As a result of the alleged fraud, Vetter received a total of $16,200 in federal rental assistance. Vetter is charged with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.

“We now have charged 20 individuals with stealing from Sandy relief programs, and our investigations are continuing,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We are committed, along with our state and federal partners, to ferreting out all of the offenders who try to cheat these programs.”

“It is unconscionable that fraudsters are trying to steal federal assistance from eligible applicants impacted by Sandy, so we will remain vigilant in pursuit of those who seek to misuse our recovery programs,” said New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III.

The 20 cases filed by the Attorney General’s Office were investigated by detectives of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG), HUD Office of Inspector General and SBA Office of Inspector General. The four cases charged today were investigated by DHS-OIG and the Division of Criminal Justice. Deputy Attorney General Mark Kurzawa, Deputy Chief of the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, and Deputy Attorneys General John A. Nicodemo and Derek Miller are prosecuting the defendants. They are working with Lt. David Nolan, Sgt. Fred Weidman and Analyst Alison Callery, who are conducting and coordinating the investigations for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, along with other detectives, including Detective Matthew Burd and Detective John Neggia.

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.

On Oct. 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey, resulting in an unprecedented level of damage. Almost immediately, the affected areas were declared federal disaster areas, making residents eligible for FEMA relief. FEMA grants are provided to repair damaged homes and replace personal property. In addition, rental assistance grants are available for impacted homeowners. FEMA allocates up to $31,900 per applicant for federal disasters. To qualify for FEMA relief, applicants must affirm that the damaged property was their primary residence at the time of the storm.

In addition to the FEMA relief funds, HUD allocated $16 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for storm victims along the East Coast. New Jersey has received $2.3 billion in CDBG funds for housing-related programs, including $215 million that was allocated for the Homeowner Resettlement Program (RSP) and $1.1 billion that was allocated for the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program. Under the Resettlement Program, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs is disbursing grants of $10,000 to encourage homeowners affected by Sandy to remain in the nine counties most seriously impacted by the storm: Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Union counties. The RREM Program, which is the state’s largest housing recovery program, provides grants to Sandy-impacted homeowners to cover rebuilding costs up to $150,000 that are not funded by insurance, FEMA, U.S. Small Business Administration loans, or other sources.

The Small Business Administration provides low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes, and most private nonprofit organizations. SBA disaster loans can be used to repair or replace real estate, personal property, machinery and equipment, and inventory and business assets damaged or destroyed in a declared disaster. Renters and homeowners may borrow up to $40,000 to repair or replace clothing, furniture, cars or appliances damaged or destroyed in the disaster. Homeowners may apply for a loan of up to $200,000 to replace or repair their primary residence to its pre-disaster condition. Secondary homes or vacation properties are not eligible for these loans, but qualified rental properties may be eligible for assistance under the business loan program.