Iowa Woman Charged With Defrauding FEMA in 2008 Flood

An eastern Iowa woman has been charged with disaster benefits fraud in the 2008 flood.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Cedar Rapids says 32-year-old Jessica Hines, of Oxford Junction, was charged in a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday. She’s accused of submitting a fraudulent application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency seeking benefits from the flood that hit eastern Iowa in June 2008.

According to the indictment, Hines falsely claimed she lived in a house in Oxford Junction at the time of the flood and that her home and personal property were damaged.

Prosecutors say Hines didn’t live at that house and her home and personal property weren’t damaged.

A telephone message left for Hines’ attorney, JoAnne Lilledahl of the federal public defender’s office, Wednesday evening wasn’t returned.