12-03-2025
Three Charged with Defrauding FEMA After Claiming Losses in Recent L.A. Wildfires
Three accused con artists have been arrested and charged with fraudulently trying to obtain tens of thousands of dollars in federal disaster-relief money by falsely claiming their properties were destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, federal authorities announced Turner, a 55-year-old Texas resident; Tyrone D. Barnes Jr., 38, of Paramount; and Hedeshia Robertson, 36, of Lakewood were arrested Tuesday on charges they filed false claims for funds with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in California's Central District. 'These defendants allegedly made false and fraudulent claims to FEMA for emergency benefits related to wildfires that devastated Los Angeles County two months ago,' said Acting United States Attorney Joseph McNally. 'These false claims resulted in badly needed disaster-relief money being denied to actual wildfire victims while these defendants allegedly used property information to illegally line their own pockets.'
Barnes submitted a disaster relief claim to FEMA for an Altadena property owned by "other individuals who did not know Barnes," federal prosecutors in L.A. say. "The true owners of the property contacted FEMA about potential assistance, which is when they learned another person had already submitted an application in relation to their property." He will make his initial appearance in a DTLA courtroom Wednesday afternoon, along with Hedeshia Robertson, who also made a claim against a Pacific Palisades property that she did not own, prosecutors say. Tuner, who has never lived in California, is an accused career conwoman who initially told FEMA that a Pasadena rental property on Walnut Street had been damaged in the Eaton fire, according to a federal criminal complaint. The area was not in the burn zone, so the following day she amended her claim to state she lived on Del Rey Avenue in Pasadena and submitted a bogus lease to support her fraud. She soon received a $25,000 check.
And it wasn't her first fraud, prosecutors say. She put in "at least ten other applications to FEMA for disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Ike three years later, along with Hurricane Isaac in 2012 and Hurricane Harvey five years later. Lastly she got a FEMA check last year after Hurricane Beryl, according to court filings. Her "criminal history showing previous arrests and convictions for fraud offenses,' according to a criminal affidavit. Turner is scheduled to make her initial appearance today in United States District Court in the Southern District of Texas and is expected to appear in the Central District of California in the coming charge of fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency benefits carries a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.
