A Fort Wayne woman used a fake charity to file 30 fraudulent rental-assistance applications
Dora T. Boyd, 33, of Fort Wayne, Indiana used a purported charitable organization to file at least 30 fraudulent applications to the City of Fort Wayne's federally funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program between March and November 2021, falsely claiming to be the landlord for numerous tenants with whom she had no actual landlord-tenant relationship, and backing the applications with fake leases and fake tax documents. She attempted to steal more than $400,000 and received $166,292. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced on December 12, 2024 to 50 months in prison and ordered to repay the full amount in restitution.
- Year
- 2024
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $166,292
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-12
The facts, as recorded
- Congress passed legislation establishing the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which made federal funds available to state and local governments to help households unable to pay rent or utilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- From March through November 2021, Dora T. Boyd engaged in a scheme to defraud the City of Fort Wayne by submitting false applications for ERAP payments to which she was not entitled.
- She used a purported charitable organization to file at least 30 fraudulent ERAP applications, falsely claiming to be the landlord for numerous tenants in the Fort Wayne area when there was no actual landlord-tenant relationship, and included fake leases and fake tax documents in the applications.
- She attempted to steal over $400,000 in assistance money but received $166,292.00.
- United States District Court Chief Judge Holly A. Brady sentenced her to 50 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release, and ordered her to pay $166,292.00 in restitution, after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
- The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Office of Inspector General for the US Department of the Treasury, and the City of Fort Wayne Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services, and announced by US Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Why this case matters
This is the clearest single-operator version of the scheme on this page: no ring, no codefendants, and no insider access, just one person using a self-created organization to present herself as the landlord of record for tenants she had no actual relationship with. It shows how little infrastructure the fraud required once a grantee was willing to accept a self-attested landlord identity on paper.
A charity as a stand-in landlord
Boyd did not need to forge an existing company’s name or impersonate a real landlord. A “purported charitable organization,” the Justice Department’s own description, was enough to present dozens of fabricated applications as legitimate, each one naming her as the landlord for a tenant she had no lease with and no management relationship to.
The gap between attempted and actual loss
Boyd attempted to steal more than $400,000 but was paid $166,292, a gap that shows at least some of her applications were caught, rejected or only partially funded before the full scheme succeeded. The restitution order covers only the money she actually received.
The caveat
Boyd pleaded guilty and has been sentenced. The dollar figures, the number of applications, and the description of the purported charitable organization reflect the Justice Department’s own charging and sentencing announcement; this page does not independently verify the underlying program records.
Sources
- Fort Wayne Woman Sentenced to 50 Months in Prison. US Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, Northern District of Indiana. Accessed 2026-10-12. Supports: All facts above: the program background, the dates, the purported charity, the at-least-30 fraudulent applications, the fake leases and tax documents, the dollar figures, the charge, sentence and restitution.