A Hawaii man was sentenced for filing claims with the Federal Emergency Management Agency seeking disaster relief related to the Lahaina and Pacific Palisades wildfires.
Daylyn Harris, 35, of Honolulu, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with false claims submitted to FEMA seeking disaster relief related to the wildfires as well as a separate obstruction of justice charge.
Harris was also ordered to pay $60,458 in restitution to FEMA. Codefendant Chelsea Johnson was previously sentenced to four months in prison.
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Court records show Harris and Johnson conspired to defraud FEMA by claiming lost income, housing and property, however they did not live in the disaster area or suffer those losses.
Harris falsely claimed he resided in Lahaina during the Lahaina wildfires, and that he lost housing, income, suffered medical bills, and lost property as a result. Johnson posed as Harris’s Maui landlord and then falsely claimed to live in Pacific Palisades during the Pacific Palisades wildfires. She claimed she lost housing and incurred other expenses.
Harris and Johnson received more than $60,000 in disaster relief from FEMA intended for victims of the wildfires, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
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After pleading guilty, Harris also submitted fabricated flight records to the court to refute allegations that he had violated his conditions of pretrial release. He was charged with and pled guilty to obstruction of justice for that offense.
The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security – Office of the Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Albanese.
Top photo: FILE – A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire as it burns a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope,File).
Topics
California
Catastrophe
Natural Disasters
Claims
Wildfire
FEMA
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