(First InMaricopa) A Maricopa Meadows woman is accused of fraud in separate municipal and federal court cases. She was arrested in Maricopa on Wednesday.
Katrina Woods, 33, is accused of stealing a Florida woman’s identity to rent her Maricopa home while pretending to live at a fake address in Altadena, Calif., where she also allegedly defrauded a federal agency out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Woods is said to have submitted a fraudulent claim for disaster assistance Jan. 30, listing a nonexistent Altadena address as her primary residence that purportedly was destroyed in the Eaton Fire, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California today.
FEMA eventually disbursed $23,441 in disaster relief to Woods, who also made reservations through FEMA to stay at two California hotels — one in downtown Los Angeles, the other in Hawthorne — during February and March paid for by FEMA.
FEMA on March 10 discontinued lodging for Woods at the hotel in downtown Los Angeles where she was staying.
However, Woods would later be caught by Maricopa Police Department for other fraud charges.
A Florida woman on April 11 reported her identity was stolen and used to rent a property on Sonny Road in the Maricopa Meadows, using a fake Florida driver’s license and the victim’s social security number.
The property broker’s website logged that Woods’ IP viewed the property Jan. 5. The rental application was completed with the victim’s information three days later. Five days later, the rental contract was signed digitally with the victim’s name and initials, according to a probable cause statement obtained by InMaricopa.
While living at the home, the broker sent Woods emails addressed to the victim, according to that document.
When the rental company learned about the alleged identity theft, it sent another email addressed to Woods cancelling the rental contact agreement. She responded with a photo of a typed sub-lease agreement and claimed it was a contract between her and the victim.
During a police interview Wednesday, Woods told Maricopa officers she was paying $2,200 to sub-lease the $2,200 rental, breaking even. She told the officers no rental broker would allow her to rent a property due to past misdemeanor charges.
During a search of her home, officers found several firearms, including a short-barreled rifle without its required federal tax stamp.
On Wednesday, MPD arrested Woods on charges of fraud, identity theft, forgery and possessing a prohibited firearm.
She is expected to make her initial appearance in federal court for the FEMA case in the coming weeks. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Arkow of the Major Frauds Section is prosecuting this case.
