Dominican National Indicted for Emergency Rental Assistance COVID-19 Relief Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft

BOSTON – A Dominican national lawfully residing in Worcester has been indicted for using other peoples’ identities – including a deceased individual – to fraudulently obtain $137,100 in emergency rental assistance funds intended to provide housing assistance for individuals unable to pay rent due to financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Felix Mercedes-Castillo, 35, was indicted on five counts of theft of government money and three counts of aggravated identity theft. The defendant is currently serving a state prison sentence for unrelated offenses and will appear in federal court in Worcester at a later date.    

In 2021, Congress established the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to provide financial assistance to eligible low-income households to cover the costs of rent and rental arrears during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to court records, between October 2021 and August 2022, Mercedes-Castillo allegedly enriched himself by engaging in a scheme to fraudulently obtain ERAP funds. Specifically, it is alleged that Mercedes-Castillo used the identities of other individuals to apply for ERAP funding. In the applications, Mercedes-Castillo allegedly claimed that the applicants were landlords and tenants of rental properties in Massachusetts, and that the applicants were in need of ERAP funds, when in fact the applicants were neither landlords nor tenants, nor in need of ERAP funding. Mercedes-Castillo allegedly included in the ERAP applications, copies of the applicants’ identifying records, including social security cards.

According to the indictment, one of the individuals whom Mercedes-Castillo falsely claimed was a landlord and who was owed rent, was a person who had been deceased for more than a year. Allegedly, as a result of the misrepresentations in the ERAP applications, ERAP checks were issued and made payable to the applicants, and Mercedes-Castillo collected the checks in the mail and retained the funds.    

The charge of theft of government money provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, forfeiture and restitution. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory two-year sentence in prison to be served consecutive to any sentence imposed, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan D. O’Shea of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud.  The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts.  For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/webform/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.