Two Michiganders Scam Veterans Affairs Out Of $430K+ By Using Fake Aliases

A Michigan woman has been sentenced to two years in prison — and another has a warrant out for her arrest — after the two stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Veterans Affairs and the Michigan Treasury, according to Click On Detroit.

Between 2013 and 2019, 53-year-old Melissa Flores and her co-conspirator, 60-year-old Sophia Quill, created aliases for themselves to obtain or create documents making it look as though they were heirs to people who died. With their aliases, they stole over $430,000 from Veterans Affairs and over $40,00 from the Michigan Treasury.

According to Click On Detroit, Flores pleaded guilty to “two counts of false pretenses between $20,000 and $50,000, one count of forgery of documents affecting real property, and four counts of false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000.” On Friday (June 24), she was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $110,000 in restitution.

Quill, on the other hand, was charged with “conducting a criminal enterprise, four counts of false pretenses between $50,000-$100,000, two counts of false pretenses between $20,000-$50,000, and two counts of false pretenses between $1,000-$20,000,” according to Click On Detroit. Because Quill is being charged as a habitual offender, she's facing a maximum of life in prison. A bench warrant for her arrest was issued in April when she failed to show up at her pretrial hearing.