Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy announced that five additional individuals were charged criminally today with filing fraudulent applications for federal relief funds related to Superstorm Sandy. Since March 2014, the Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against 62 people for allegedly engaging in this type of fraud, including the five individuals charged today.
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 many cases, they also applied for funds from a Sandy relief program funded by HUD, low-interest disaster loans from the SBA, or assistance provided by the New Jersey Department of Human Services. The HUD funds are administered in New Jersey by the Department of Community Affairs.
The following defendants were charged today by complaint-summons:
Nikola Lulaj, 42, of Seaside Heights, N.J., (formerly of Dumont, N.J.), allegedly filed fraudulent applications following Superstorm Sandy for FEMA assistance, a low-interest SBA disaster-relief loan, and state grants under the Homeowner Resettlement Program (RSP), the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program, and the Sandy Homeowner and Renter Assistance Program (SHRAP) funded by the New Jersey Department of Human Services.
As a result, he received a total of approximately $187,074 in relief funds. It is alleged that Lulaj falsely claimed in his applications that a home he owns on Webster Avenue in Seaside Heights which was damaged by Superstorm Sandy was his primary residence at the time Sandy struck.
In fact, his primary residence was in Dumont, N.J. Lulaj has since moved to the house in Seaside Heights, but at the time of the storm, it allegedly was a vacation/rental property. As a result of the alleged fraudulent applications, he received $2,820 from FEMA, $90,200 in SBA loan proceeds, a $69,054 RREM grant, a $10,000 RSP grant, and a $15,000 SHRAP grant. Lulaj is charged with second-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.
Rachel Bryant, 53, of Philadelphia, Pa., allegedly fraudulently obtained a total of $23,918 by filing false applications following Superstorm Sandy for FEMA assistance and state grant funds under the Sandy Homeowner and Renter Assistance Program (SHRAP) funded by the New Jersey Department of Human Services. Bryant allegedly falsely claimed in the applications that a storm-damaged property that she and her mother owned on McKinley Avenue in Atlantic City was her primary residence at the time Sandy hit. It is alleged that, in fact, Bryant was living in another residence at the time of the storm.
Bryant received $14,911 for property damage and $2,346 for rental assistance from FEMA, and she received $6,661 in SHRAP grant funds to replace various appliances and personal items. Bryant is charged with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.
Gordon Sinclair, 40, of Summit, N.J., allegedly fraudulently obtained a total of $12,270 by filing false applications following Superstorm Sandy for FEMA rental assistance and a state grant under the Homeowner Resettlement Program (RSP). It is alleged that Sinclair falsely claimed in his applications that a storm-damaged property that he owned on Moonrise Lane in Lavallette, N.J., was his primary residence at the time Sandy hit. It is alleged that, in reality, his primary residence was an apartment in Hoboken and the property in Lavallette was a vacation home. Sinclair received a $10,000 RSP grant and $2,270 in FEMA rental assistance. Sinclair is charged with third-degree theft by deception and fourth-degree unsworn falsification.
Pat G. Angelastro, 46, of Ortley Beach, N.J., allegedly fraudulently obtained a total of $10,000 by filing a false application following Superstorm Sandy for a state grant under the Homeowner Resettlement Program (RSP). It is alleged that Angelastro falsely claimed in the application that at the time Sandy struck, he owned a house on Fielder Avenue in Ortley Beach that was damaged by the storm. It is alleged that, while the storm-damaged house was Angelastro’s primary residence, he did not own it. His parents owned the house at the time of the storm.
Angelastro therefore was not qualified for the grant monies. He received a $10,000 RSP grant as a result of the alleged false application. Angelastro also applied for a state grant under the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program, but that application was denied. He is charged with third-degree theft by deception.
Catherine Alvira-Przybylski, 45, of Keyport, N.J., allegedly fraudulently obtained $9,775 in FEMA rental assistance by submitting fraudulent documents indicating that she incurred rental expenses after Superstorm Sandy that she never incurred. At the time Superstorm Sandy struck, Alvira-Przybylski lived in an apartment in Seaside Heights, N.J., that was damaged by the storm, forcing her to relocate. While she legitimately received certain assistance from FEMA, it is alleged that she fraudulently received additional FEMA rental assistance totaling $9,775 by submitting false receipts indicating she herself paid rent and security deposits at times when, in fact, her housing expenses were paid with government or charitable relief funds, or were not paid at all.
She allegedly submitted false receipts totaling $2,550 for her purported payment of a security deposit and one month’s rent for an apartment in Keyport, at a time when FEMA was paying for her to be sheltered in a hotel in Hazlet.
She also allegedly submitted false receipts totaling $5,625 indicating that she paid a security deposit and three months’ rent for another apartment in Keyport, when those expenses were, in fact, paid by the American Red Cross, or another charitable organization, or, for one month, not paid at all.
In addition, she 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 allegedly was living with his father, Alvira-Przybylski’s former husband. Alvira-Przybylski is charged with 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.