A Montco woman who defrauded FEMA of $1.5 million in Hurricane Ida relief money was sentenced to 5 years in prison

A Montgomery County woman was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for defrauding the government of more than $1.5 million intended to aid victims of Hurricane Ida, the 2021 storm that tore through the region and left thousands of properties damaged and the Vine Street Expressway submerged in murky floodwaters.

Jasmine Williams, 34, apologized for her conduct, saying in court that she was embarrassed by her actions and would never make similar mistakes again. In the years after her crimes, she said, she gave birth to a daughter, who is now 2, and she said becoming a mother has helped her see the errors of her past.

“My past is who I was — and who I am today, I’m a different person,” Williams said.

Still, U.S. District Judge Kelley B. Hodge said Williams made a series of decisions to benefit herself at the expense of others — calling it a “fleecing” of people who were truly in need of government help.

“Everybody has struggles, everybody has to do something to survive. What you engaged in was driven by greed,” Hodge said. “You may say not 100%. But you got used to it. You liked it. You enjoyed it.”

In addition to Williams’ prison term, Hodge imposed a four-year term of supervised release.

Ida made landfall in Louisiana in August 2021 as a Category 4 hurricane, and went on to carve a destructive path over the Appalachians and through the Mid-Atlantic. Federal authorities believe it caused nearly 100 deaths and tens of billions of dollars in damage, and Philadelphia officials estimate that 11,000 properties in the city were damaged.

The region was hit by tornadoes, significant downpours, power outages, and widespread flooding, including in parts of Center City and on Boathouse Row, Manayunk’s Main Street, and the Vine Street Expressway.

Months after the storm subsided, then-President Joe Biden freed up funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to go toward storm relief. That’s when Williams began her scheme to target those funds, prosecutors said.

On social media, prosecutors said, Williams posted that she could help people fill out applications for federal aid — even if they had suffered no harm from the storm.

She helped people complete applications for properties they did not own or that were not damaged, prosecutors said, and drafted fake documents — including false emergency room bills and home repair estimates — to help their paperwork pass through FEMA’s screening process.

In exchange, prosecutors said, she told applicants they had to pay her half of what they received. And in all, prosecutors said, she helped about 150 people file false registrations, causing FEMA to distribute about $1.5 million in fraudulent reimbursements. She pleaded guilty last year to more than two dozen charges, including wire fraud and mail fraud.

“These individuals came to her for one reason: to obtain quick and free money,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Chandler Harris said in court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruth Mandelbaum said Williams used her illicit profits to pay for a series of extravagant expenses, including vacations to the Bahamas and Thailand, and luxury clothing and jewelry.

“She wanted to live a lavish lifestyle and she did that on the backs of American taxpayers,” Mandelbaum said.

Williams’ attorney, Summer McKeivier, acknowledged that Williams had taken advantage of a “get rich quick” scheme. But she said Williams was motivated not solely by greed, but also by a desire to provide financial security for herself and others.

And she added that Williams, who had no previous criminal record, has now centered her life on being a mother her daughter can admire.

Williams said: “Being a mother has changed my life in such a dramatic way.”

Hodge encouraged Williams to continue moving past what she described as a “hustle mentality” and a desire to seek quick cash to fund a glamorous lifestyle.

“This is not some version of a reality TV show on BET,” Hodge said. “This is real life.”