Western NC woman indicted on charges of FEMA fraud tied to Hurricane Helene
A federal grand jury has indicted a woman on a charge that she defrauded FEMA of funds meant to help people after Hurricane Helene, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson’s office.
Federal prosecutors allege that Peggy Lee Cantrell, 40, of Marion, took $30,631 from the agency with a false claim. She first claimed to rent a property in Marion before amending her filing and saying she owned it, the news release said.
But she never rented, owned or lived in the property, according to the indictment.
The property wasn’t even there when the storm happened, prosecutors said, and Cantrell lived in Raleigh at the time of the storm.
She appeared in federal court in Asheville on Friday morning. If convicted, she could spend more than 30 years in prison for disaster benefits fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.