Woman swindled $77,000 in housing relief by lying about Camp Fire damage, feds say

A former Paradise woman falsely claimed to be living in a mobile home destroyed by the 2018 Camp Fire to receive $77,000 in federal housing aid, prosecutors say.

Deborah Laughlin, 64, pleaded guilty Monday to making false statements to collect Federal Emergency Management Agency relief following the catastrophic blaze, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the eastern district of California said in a statement.

Laughlin claimed a mobile home on her property as her primary residence, but she actually had rented it out to others who were living there at the time of the fire, the statement said.

Laughlin falsely told reporters she fled the mobile home so quickly she left her dentures behind. An earlier federal indictment said Laughlin was actually living in Willows, miles away, and was in jail at the time of the fire, McClatchy News reported.

Based on her false statement, Laughlin received money to replace her supposedly destroyed possessions and pay rent, along with a FEMA mobile home from June 2019 to April, prosecutors said. The total loss to the United States was more than $77,000.

Laughlin will be sentenced in December. She faces up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.

The Camp Fire blackened 153,000 acres, including most of the city of Paradise, destroyed 18,000 buildings and killed 85 people in November 2018, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Woman swindled $77,000 in housing relief by lying about Camp Fire damage, feds say."