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Montco woman bilked FEMA out of $1.5 million in Hurricane Ida relief funds, feds say

Jasmine Williams, 33, stands accused of helping people fill out fraudulent applications for federal aid. In exchange, they said, she charged a fee of one-half any proceeds they received.

The Schuylkill River and Manayunk Canal overflowed on to Main Street in Manayunk as heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded the Philadelphia region in September 2021.
The Schuylkill River and Manayunk Canal overflowed on to Main Street in Manayunk as heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded the Philadelphia region in September 2021.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

A Montgomery County woman defrauded federal disaster authorities out of more than $1.5 million designated for aiding victims of Hurricane Ida’s destructive 2021 path through the Philadelphia region, federal authorities said this week.

Jasmine Williams, 33, of Plymouth Meeting, advertised her services on social media, offering to help people fill out fraudulent applications for federal aid, prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed Monday. In exchange, they said, she charged a fee of one-half of any proceeds issued.

Investigators believe that, in all, dozens of people across the country received aid money to which they were not entitled as a result of Williams’ efforts.

She now faces 32 felony counts including wire and mail fraud as well as fraud in connection with a major disaster. Each of those crimes is punishable by up to 30 years in prison should Williams be convicted.

She was released on a $50,000 recognizance bond after a brief appearance before a federal magistrate judge Monday afternoon. Williams’ attorney, Guy Sciolla, did not return requests for comment Tuesday.

Ida, which hit Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane, ranks among one of the most devastating Atlantic storms to ever hit the United States, causing 86 deaths and about $36 billion in damage, according to federal storm statistics.

And though it had been downgraded by the time its remnants swept through the Philadelphia region in September 2021, it spawned several tornadoes, caused millions in property damage, and flooded city neighborhoods and the Vine Street Expressway.

» READ MORE: ‘Don’t let us die down here’: A look back at Hurricane Ida’s devastation of the Philly area

Its impact left 81 homes destroyed and 500 with major damage — particularly in hardest-hit Strawberry Mansion, according to a City of Philadelphia tally. In all, nearly 11,000 properties reported verified losses totaling about $41 million.

Williams launched her scheme, prosecutors said, shortly after President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declaration for the region, freeing up funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to go toward storm relief. By October of that year, she was advertising her fraudulent services on social media and had already attracted a number of clients, prosecutors said.

She assisted them in filling out relief applications for properties they did not own or that were not damaged and drafted fake leases, letters from landlords, utility bills, earning statements, and home repair estimates to help them pass through FEMA’s screening process, according to court filings.

In some cases, authorities say, she even participated in three-way calls between FEMA representatives and the applicants to vouch for the false statements made in their filings.

The plan proved to be successful, netting FEMA checks of as much as $21,000 for some of those she helped guide through the process.

Though authorities did not provide an exact number of fraudulent relief applications they’d linked to Williams, the charges unsealed against her Monday were linked to roughly 14 different applicants.

A trial date has not yet been set in her case.