By John Burton
FREEHOLD — A Monmouth County grand jury today handed down a one-count indictment charging a Sea Bright man with defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of $12,114, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
William Nagle, 51, who was living in an apartment on Sea Bright’s Center Street, was charged with third-degree theft by deception. Nagle was arrested last month as part of an investigation conducted by the prosecutor’s office’s Super Storm Sandy Fraud Task Force.
Authorities allege that Nagle took the money from FEMA’s Transitional Shelter Assistance program to pay for approximately 68 nights at various hotels because flooding from the late October storm damaged his apartment. Authorities, however, say Nagle had received a certificate of occupancy last December, meaning he could return to his apartment at that time.
Since the prosecutor’s office established its storm-related fraud task force, 112 cases have been investigated. Forty-four cases have been remediated or closed after an investigation and review.
