A Florida woman tried to use her mother’s identity to steal thousands of dollars in hurricane relief funds. She tried to say that she looked younger than she was in her ID picture because she got Botox.
Veronica Torres was arrested and charged with attempting to commit public aid fraud, which is a third-degree felony.
She is now free on bail. As per the Bradenton Police Department, Torres reportedly asked for money to help with Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit the southeast earlier in the fall.
She may have said on her application that she had to leave her home because of the damage from the hurricanes. Torres was given $7,967 in aid by the Hurricane Disaster Assistance Program of the City of Bradenton.
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However, when Torres, who is 44 years old, went to pick up her check in person on November 14, the city worker who was helping her noticed that she looked a lot younger than the person on her ID.
The police said that Torres made her claim with “her mother’s name, driver’s license, and Social Security information.” The age of Torres’s mother wasn’t given, but when asked about why she looked younger than the age she said she was on her application, Torres reportedly said it was because she had “Botox treatments.”
The police wrote that the employee asked Torres to come back the next day because the explanation “did not convince the employee.” The worker also called the police.
When Torres got back, she was arrested for making a false claim for public assistance. On November 16, Torres was freed on a $2,500 bond.
