Woman accused of defrauding Miami-Dade’s emergency rental program

Investigators recently accused a 48-year-old woman of defrauding a Miami-Dade County program that was meant to prevent homelessness during the pandemic.A judge issued a warrant for Stacey Clark’s arrest on Aug. 27, and the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office arrested her on Monday, according to court records. Lorraine Moore, a special agent with Miami-Dade County’s Office of the Inspector General, investigated the Emergency Rental Assistance Program fraud case, records show. “The ERAP accepted the representations in the application as true and correct,” Moore wrote, according to the warrant. As a result, Miami-Dade County’s ERAP issued a $34,450 check, made payable to the person Clark had identified as her landlord, on Sept. 8, 2021, according to the warrant. Clark, also known as Stacy Elizabeth Shuler-Clark, began the ERAP application process with Miami-Dade on or about July 21, 2021, according to the warrant. “The ledgers stated that she was delinquent in rent payments from May of 2020 through August of 2021,” Moore wrote, according to the warrant. Clark reported that she was a tenant at 12521 NW 22 Court, and that her employer, Bed Bath & Beyond, had reduced her income, according to the warrant. “It does not appear that Clark’s representation regarding her decrease in income was truthful because a review of the bank records revealed that Clark’s income increased during the period of time that she claimed that her income decreased,” Moore wrote, according to the warrant. Moore also reported finding that Clark did not even live in Miami-Dade County, but in Pembroke Pines, according to the warrant. Clark faced two charges: Grand theft and organized fraud. Miami-Dade corrections released Clark on Tuesday on a $15,000 bond, and her arraignment hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 30, according to court records. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge David H. Young was set to preside over the case.