On Monday authorities arrested a Queens, New York woman on a string of charges related to allegedly scamming the federal government out of disaster relief funds intended for real victims of Superstorm Sandy.

The alleged fraudster, Caterina Curatolo, has amassed a laundry list of criminal charges, including grand larceny, insurance fraud, scheme to defraud, multiple counts of offering a false instrument for filing, and falsifying business records. In total, investigators believe she claimed $87,000 in benefits to which she was not entitled by posing as a victim of the most destructive storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season.

Prosecutors say that Curatolo claimed Sandy had badly damaged her property, leaving her utterly destitute, when in fact her primary residence fell into disrepair long before the storm. It also bears mention that she owned another home next to the supposedly inhabitable property.

Shocked neighbors seem to corroborate investigators' suspicions, telling a local CBS affiliate the home in question had “been run down for some time,” explaining that Curatolo “was on disability and had trouble taking care of her mother.”

A Serial Schemer?

Of course, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has a less forgiving perspective of Curatolo's transgressions, calling her a “compulsive fraudster,” who allegedly “ripped off every program she could get her hands on.”

Real catastrophe victims may soon feel similarly, for several reasons. When posing as a homeless storm victim, Curatolo checked into a hotel on the city's dime, spending 269 nights at a cost of $83,500—up until her arrest on August 12. Some reports assert she stayed in three different hotels over the past nine months, yet returned to both homes to gather mail on a regular basis. Meanwhile, many victims are paying for repairs out of pocket and staying with relatives, as recovery is slow.

To make matters worse, at least for Curatolo's potential defense, this is not her first brush with the law. The investigation also led to FEMA records indicating that Curatolo made a similar claim for damage to her roof after Hurricane Irene in 2011. The attorney general's office later discovered that FEMA issued Curatolo a check for $7,712.42 in October 2011 for the damage claims.

Schneiderman adds that Curatolo submitted a phony car insurance claim for which she received more than $3,500 to pay for food. Allegedly she used the funds to purchase clothes and shoes.

If convicted, defendant Curatolo could spend as many as 7 years in prison.

The city's Housing Recovery Office, which was established after Sandy, has paid for hotels for more than 3,000 New Yorkers who were left homeless by the storm.

Special Reports /

Superstorm Sandy Scammer Arrested, Charged

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