The owners of a Homestead, Fla. nursery have sown the seeds of lengthy prison sentences after executing an audacious con that siphoned a cool million from a federal disaster fund.
On May 29, Yaima Perez, 28, and her husband, Sergio Perez, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, filing false claims, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with bogus claims for hurricane-related damages.
The proprietors of Perez Pizza & Bread—Sergio solely owned Planta Ornamentales, the couple's nursery—defrauded a federal disaster-relief program that was established to provide financial assistance to nursery producers that suffered inventory losses and cleanup costs in the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Ophelia, Rita and Wilma.
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