The Justice Department announced on Friday that five individuals have been arrested for allegedly submitting false claims regarding property damage from the wildfires that swept through Los Angeles in January.
These unrelated cases involve defendants who fraudulently collected thousands of dollars in federal disaster-relief funds provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Each defendant faces charges of fraud pertaining to major disaster or emergency benefits, with a potential maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.
Among the five defendants, four are residents of L.A. County and were arrested on Thursday, while one defendant from Arizona was already in state custody due to an unrelated matter.
Currently, FEMA has distributed over $123.6 million to assist 33,817 individuals impacted by the wildfires, which officials have warned could become the costliest disaster in modern history.
FEMA grants, which do not need to be repaid, are designed to help cover rental assistance, temporary housing, home repairs, property losses, and other disaster-related expenses not covered by insurance.
One of the defendants, Deanniah Hogan, 32, from Compton, submitted a fraudulent claim in January, asserting that her rental property in Pacific Palisades had sustained damage.
Authorities reported that Hogan received $17,351 from FEMA based on her false claim, only for the true owner of the property to later confirm that it was not being rented out.
After making her first court appearance on Thursday, Hogan was released on a $10,000 bond, with an arraignment scheduled for May 20.
Delvonne Dashon Johnson, 31, of East Hollywood, is also implicated in the fraud.
He submitted a claim for another Pacific Palisades home owned by a different individual who stated she had never rented it to Johnson and was oblivious to his actions.
Authorities determined that FEMA sent Johnson approximately $64,138 in relief funds for his fraudulent claim submitted in February.
When the actual homeowner attempted to file her own claim, she learned that someone else had already used her property to file.
Johnson’s first court appearance was scheduled for Friday.
Keandre Lowe, 21, from Long Beach, is accused of claiming to have rented a home in Altadena that had been damaged by the wildfires.
The true homeowners, who have lived there since 2007, asserted that they had never rented out the property.
Lowe received $28,286 from FEMA after filing a fraudulent claim in January.
He has been released on a $10,000 bond following his court appearance on Thursday, with his arraignment set for May 27.
Another defendant, Zenalyn McIntre, 38, from Sherman Oaks, allegedly submitted falsified documents to support her fraudulent claim.
These documents included her California driver’s license, which bore a Sherman Oaks address, along with a utility bill that appeared to be fake.
McIntre claimed that she was renting a Pacific Palisades home destroyed by the fire and received $25,229 in relief funds.
She was scheduled to have her first court appearance on Friday.
Finally, Katrina Woods, 33, of Maricopa, Arizona, filed a fraudulent claim listing a nonexistent address in Altadena as her primary residence that she claimed had been destroyed.
FEMA disbursed a total of $23,441 to Woods, which did not include expenses for two hotel stays in downtown Los Angeles and Hawthorne, which she arranged through the agency.
As of Wednesday, Woods remained in state custody for a separate issue and is expected to make her first federal court appearance in the coming weeks.
Other individuals have been arrested for similar fraudulent claims regarding the fires.
Hedeshia Robertson, 36, from Lakewood, is set to plead guilty on May 2 to one count of fraud after fraudulently obtaining approximately $24,899 from FEMA.
Jaime Arturo Carrillo, 48, from South Los Angeles, recently pleaded guilty to the same charge after receiving over $2,000 in transitional sheltering assistance from FEMA.
image source from：https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-04-25/5-arrested-fraudulent-fema-claims-from-palisades-eaton-fires-disaster-relief-funds
