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Trio charged with defrauding Michigan Treasury and US Dept. of Veterans Affairs

Posted at 10:41 AM, Jun 01, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-01 10:41:21-04

LANSING, Mich. — Two Michigan residents and a third unidentified person face charges in the theft of unclaimed property and veterans survivor benefits. The total value of the fraudulent claims totals more than $470,000, said the Michigan Attorney General’s office in a release.

Fake identities were created and used to obtain about $40,000 in unclaimed property from the Michigan Treasury and more than $430,000 in survivor benefits from the veterans administration in a scheme to make it look like the group were heirs to veterans who had died.

Melissa Flores, 53, of Westland, Mich., and Stephen Decker, 32, of Wyandotte, have been arraigned. A third person’s identity has not been released pending arraignment.