John Jefferson
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.
However, when Torres — who is 44 years old — showed up in person to collect her check on Nov. 14, the city employee who was assisting her noticed that she looked much younger than the person in the identification she presented. As the police department alleged, Torres used “her mother’s name, driver’s license, and Social Security information” to make her claim. The age of Torres’s mother was not provided, but when asked to explain why she looked younger than the age she claimed to be in her application, Torres reportedly credited “Botox treatments” with her youthful appearance.
The police wrote that the explanation “failed to convince the employee,” who asked Torres to come back the following day. The employee also notified the police.
When Torres returned, she was arrested for filing a false public assistance claim. Torres was released on $2,500 bond on Nov. 16.
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