LAUDERHILL, Fla. – A woman used her relatively common name to her advantage as she hatched a scheme to steal tens of thousands of dollars in Broward County funds meant to go to rental assistance, according to investigators.
Authorities said Sandra Janet Martin, 57, of Lauderhill, sought reimbursement under the Emergency Rental Assistance Program for three properties owned by others named Sandra Martin, as well as her own home.
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The federal government established the Emergency Rental Assistance Program “to assist people who experienced financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office news release.
Officials said none of the properties, including hers, were actually rented.
According to Broward Sheriff’s Office arrest documents, the other owners said they did not know any of the alleged renters and the alleged lessees said they never rented the properties. In addition to Martin’s actual Lauderhill property, deputies said they were located in Deerfield Beach, Margate and Oakland Park.
Martin made off with $81,950 in county funds from February 2020 through September 2022, authorities allege.
But it’s not her first time being accused of stealing public funds meant to go to those in need.
Broward court records show that on Nov. 6, 1995, she pleaded no contest to a felony welfare fraud charge.
Those records show she received withheld adjudication but violated her probation in August 2000.
Now, nearly 25 years later, she’s back in trouble and the charges are even more serious: BSO deputies arrested her Tuesday on charges of grand theft, organized fraud and three counts of identity theft.
Online records show she was being held at the BSO Main Jail. Three of her charges have no listed bond, while two identity theft charges carry bonds of $2,500 each.