$80K+ of FEMA bucks to sleazy hotel owner.
[FONT="]Sandipkumar Patel, 43, of Edison, was charged with second degree theft by deception after pleading guilty to stealing federal disaster relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said Monday. As part of a plea agreement, the state recommended that Patel serve a three-year sentence in state prison.[/FONT][FONT="]According to Porrino, Patel admitted that he fraudulently obtained $81,567 from FEMA’s Transitional Shelter Assistance program, which provided funds for hotels and motels that gave shelter to displaced Sandy victims following the storm.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Patel’s business, the American Motel on Rt. 166 in Toms River, was paid $133.28 per day by FEMA for every room that was occupied by victims of the storm, Porrino said. According to Porrino, federal and state investigators discovered that Patel submitted the names of 11 people who he claimed stayed at the motel following the storm.[/FONT]
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Read More: Motel owner made $81,567 lying about helping Sandy victims, authorities say | http://nj1015.com/nj-motel-owner-li...dy-victims-authorities-say/?trackback=tsmclip[/FONT]
