Houston Woman Charged with Cares Act Fraud and Theft of Government Funds

August 21, 2023

NEW ORLEANS — The spouse of a former Amtrak employee was charged July 7, 2023, with making false statements and theft of government funds related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

According to the charging documents, Temika Santemore, 43, currently a resident of Houston, made false statements to the Small Business Administration to fraudulently obtain pandemic-related relief loans funded by the federal government, including Paycheck Protection Program loans. As a result, she received approximately $13,540 in pandemic-related relief loans. Santemore also applied for Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the SBA in July 2021 and illegally received $5,000 for a dormant business she owned.

Santemore faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and up to three years of supervised release for the false statements count. She faces up to ten years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and up to three years of supervised release for the theft count. There is also a $100 mandatory special assessment fee per count due after conviction.

Her husband, Stacey V. Santemore, a former Amtrak train attendant, was sentenced for similar charges July 25, 2022, to three years’ probation, 12 months’ home confinement, and was ordered to pay restitution of $64,874.64 to the SBA and $22,725 to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

In addition to the Amtrak Office of Inspector General, the case was investigated by the Department of Labor OIG and the FBI.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

Reports of fraud, waste, or abuse; criminal or unethical acts affecting Amtrak’s property or operations; or mismanagement in Amtrak programs or operations can be made 24 hours a day via the Amtrak OIG Hotline at 1-800-468-5469 or online at https://direc.to/hPAu.

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