COUNTYWIDE : 7 Are Arrested on Suspicion of Fraud

Seven Orange County residents have been arrested for allegedly defrauding the government of housing subsidies and welfare payments, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office announced Friday.

The arrests were made separately and under a new county fraud detection program aimed at those who are illegally receiving rental subsidies from the federal government. The suspects were all charged with grand theft, and three of them face an additional charge of welfare fraud.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David A. Wagner said the arrests were among the first under the new program, a joint effort between the Orange County Housing Authority and the district attorney’s office. Those arrested allegedly defrauded the housing and welfare programs of a total of $77,000, he said.

To date, the fraud detection program has been responsible for stopping rent assistance to 294 people who did not deserve it, freeing up more than $1 million for truly needy families, Wagner said.

Under the government assistance program, a person who qualifies pays up to 25% of his or her income for housing and the federal government makes up the difference. The individual subsidy program replaced the huge low-income housing projects built by the government in the 1960s.

Those arrested for grand theft were: Michelle Carmona, 27, Santa Ana; Lang Thi Dang, 32, Westminster; Kanh Hung Dang, 21, Westminster; Donna Green, 27, Stanton; Nila Jones, 27, Fullerton; Marcia Meck, 50, Garden Grove; and Margaret Rodriguez, 45, Orange. Carmona, Green and Jones were also charged with welfare fraud.

Wagner said one person has already been convicted under the fraud detection program, which began in May, 1989.

The Housing Authority announced Friday that under new federal regulations, anyone prosecuted for a drug-related offense or a violent crime will be disqualified from the rental assistance program.