Background: A damaged home and the displaced roof of a 55+ mobile home community’s tiki hut after the passage of Hurricane Milton, on Manasota Key, in Englewood, Fla., Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File). Inset: Veronica Torres (Manatee County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida woman who allegedly attempted to use her mother’s identity to steal thousands of dollars of hurricane relief funds tried to claim that she looked younger than her photo ID because she got Botox.
Veronica Torres is out on bail after being arrested and charged with attempting to commit public aid fraud, a third-degree felony. According to the Bradenton Police Department, Torres reportedly applied for financial aid related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which barreled through the southeast earlier in the fall. In her application, she apparently claimed that she’d been forced to leave her home due to the damage caused by the hurricanes. Torres was approved for $7,967 in aid by the City of Bradenton’s Hurricane Disaster Assistance Program.
