The owners of a Homestead, Fla. nursery have sown the seeds of lengthy prison sentences after executing a con that siphoned a cool million from a federal disaster fund.
On May 29, Yaima Perez, 28, and her husband, Sergio Perez, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, filing false claims, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with bogus claims for hurricane-related damages.
The Perezes defrauded a federal disaster-relief program that was established to provide financial assistance to nursery producers that suffered inventory losses and cleanup costs in the wakes of Hurricanes Katrina, Ophelia, Rita and Wilma.
According to prosecutors, the duo used stolen identities of other nursery producers to file fraudulent damage claims and even used false state agriculture certificates.
Moreover, federal court records reveal the U.S. Department of Agriculture paid the sizable claims and that more than $500,000 of the resultant payments were deposited to Yaima Perez's bank account to later be transferred to a Costa Rican company controlled by Sergio Perez.
Perez went a step further, later admitting to transferring $700,000—which he accepted from multiple farmers who drew from the federal nursery program—to Costa Rica in order to buy land. Husband and wife then padded their accounts with another $100,000.
Each party faces up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for August.
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