A woman has been arrested and charged with larceny, after impersonating one of the hundreds injured during the recent Boston Marathon bombing, in a scheme that got her nearly $500,000 from a fund designated for victims, as reported by the Huffington Post.
New York resident A.G., 26, falsified hospital records to make it appear as if she had a brain injury in the plot, according to Massachusetts' authorities.
According to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, A.G. was arrested on July 19 in New York on a Massachusetts fugitive warrant.
The fake hospital records, which A.G. used in a claim she made to the fund in June, were several pages long and showed her to be treated in both Boston and New York hospitals for traumatic brain injury.
A.G. claimed to have sustained her injuries, along with over 260 others, in the April 15 attack.
The fund approved A.G.'s claim and issued her a check for $480,000.
According to Coakley, A.G. declared that her brain injury caused her to suffer with long-term memory loss and impaired speech. She also stated that she had experienced loss of some motor function that would require surgery in the future.
However, a tip to authorities made one week ago, resulted in the knowledge that A.G. may not have been in Boston at the time of the bombing. The hospitals she had named later said that they had never treated her.
Coakley told reporters, "There is no evidence that Ms. (A.G.) was an actual victim of the bombing."
It is unclear whether A.G. has hired an attorney and reporters were unable to reach her for comment.
Coakley said that A.G. awaits a charge of larceny over $250. She will be arraigned in New York on the fugitive warrant and brought over to Boston if she agrees to waive extradition.
Investigators, in the mean time, are working to locate and secure the money that A.G. had received from the fund. Coakley said she was confident the money would be then be available to the true victims.
The tip, according to Coakley, came from a person that may have had knowledge of the scheme. She also said that the investigation is ongoing as they look at other indications that "one or two other individuals" may have worked alongside A.G.
Of the administrators of One Fund, Oakley said she was confident that they were doing their best to help the victims and had been "diligent."
One Fund has collected over $64 million to help the many victims that lost limbs, and suffered other injuries, in the bombing.
Along with the hundreds of victims there were three deaths.
This is the second fraudulent claim made to One Fund. A 22 year-old man claimed $2.2 million in damages. He has since been arraigned on charges that include attempted larceny and identity theft.
Coakley said that these claims, to defraud the fund, are "outrageous."
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