Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice
A Dominican national living in Worcester has been indicted on charges of theft of government money and aggravated identity theft. Felix Mercedes-Castillo, 35, is accused of using the identities of others, including a deceased individual, to fraudulently obtain $137,100 in emergency rental assistance funds meant for people facing financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to court records, between October 2021 and August 2022, Mercedes-Castillo allegedly submitted applications to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) using false information. He reportedly claimed that certain individuals were landlords or tenants needing ERAP funds when they were not. The indictment states that one such person had died more than a year before the application was filed. Mercedes-Castillo allegedly used copies of these individuals’ identification documents in his submissions. As a result of these actions, ERAP checks were issued in the names of the applicants and collected by Mercedes-Castillo.
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program was created by Congress in 2021 to provide financial help to eligible low-income households for rent and rental arrears due to the pandemic.
Mercedes-Castillo is currently serving a state prison sentence for unrelated offenses and will appear later in federal court in Worcester.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison for theft of government money, with additional penalties including supervised release, fines up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, forfeiture, and restitution. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence and up to a $250,000 fine. Sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge based on U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley stated: “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.”
Further information about DOJ’s response can be found at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Boston Division Special Agent Ted E. Docks; Homeland Security Investigations New England Special Agent Michael J. Krol; Massachusetts Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro; as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan D. O’Shea are involved in prosecuting this case.
Reports about suspected COVID-19 relief fraud can be made through https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/webform/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
Authorities emphasize that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
