{"id":249972,"date":"2026-07-23T03:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T03:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/249972\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T03:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T03:28:12","slug":"pennsylvania-woman-jailed-for-stealing-1-7m-in-fema-funds-as-dhs-cracks-down-on-agency-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/249972\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania woman jailed for stealing $1.7M in FEMA funds as DHS cracks down on agency fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Pennsylvania woman who defrauded the federal government out of $1.7 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds in the wake of Hurricane Ida<\/a> was sentenced to five years in prison, the Justice Department said Wednesday as the Trump administration continues its effort to crack down on fraud.<\/p>\n

Jasmine Williams, 34, of Plymouth Meeting, pleaded guilty last year to 32 charges ranging from fraud related to a major disaster declaration to wire fraud and mail fraud.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the leadership of President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, FEMA is rooting out fraud in disaster aid,\u201d Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis exclusively told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are protecting taxpayer dollars and making sure disaster assistance goes to those who truly need it,\u201d Bis continued. \u201cAnyone who tries to steal from survivors will be caught and held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden issued a disaster declaration in September 2021 after the remnants of Hurricane Ida struck much of the eastern portion of the state.<\/p>\n

\"ABlue tarp stamped with the FEMA logo covers the roof of a home more than a week after Hurricane Irma made landfall, on September 18, 2017 in the hills above Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Officials said Williams solicited participants in her scheme \u2014 renters, homeowners or the homeless \u2014 and submitted fraudulent documents to FEMA on behalf of almost 200 others, including fraudulent leases, letters from landlords, utility bills, earning statements and home repair estimates.<\/p>\n

She recruited the participants over social media, advertising that she could assist them in applying for FEMA benefits, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

As part of the fraud, she requested half of the payout for herself, amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

\"TwoThe Federal Emergency Management Agency helps FEMA employees Alec Villeneuve, left, and Thomas Yahn hang a banner on Friday, May 12, 2023, at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center site in Hollywood, Florida. TNS<\/p>\n

When one person involved in the scheme didn\u2019t pay her, Williams posted that person\u2019s personal information on social media, officials said.<\/p>\n

She also posted a video criticizing the person for not paying the 50% Williams charged.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Williams additionally used social media to solicit images of damaged homes to submit in support of her fraudulent applications, federal prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

In fiscal year 2025, FEMA identified more than 1,700 fraud cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Pennsylvania woman who defrauded the federal government out of $1.7 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[31,40910,10716,28,30,29,789,302],"class_list":["post-249972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-crime","tag-fema","tag-fraud","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-sentencing","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}