Houston and New York Men Plead Guilty: 23 Fake-Lease Applications Stole Over $187,000 From North Carolina's NC HOPE Rental Assistance Program
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced on October 28 that Daquan Copeland, 35, of Houston, Texas, and Esless White Sr., 51, of Jamaica, New York, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Prosecutors say the two, working with others, defrauded the federal government of more than $187,000 in pandemic housing assistance. Each faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million when sentenced later this year.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Copeland and White applied for emergency rental assistance through the North Carolina Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Evictions (NC HOPE) program, supporting their applications with fake tenant leases for several properties in Lenoir County. Between November 2020 and December 2021, Copeland, White, and others submitted 23 fraudulent applications and stole more than $187,000 in government housing funds for their personal use. NC HOPE was funded under the CARES Act, passed March 27, 2020, which authorized $5 billion for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); North Carolina used an initial $51.5 million CDBG allocation for the program's housing and utility assistance.
'These two leeches bled dollars from federal programs designed to help those in need. Now they sit and wait for the gavel of justice to hammer down their sentence,' said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle. 'Anyone who defrauds any of our taxpayer programs will be held accountable.' Jerome Winkle, Special Agent in Charge of the HUD Office of Inspector General, said every dollar stolen was a dollar unavailable to help someone pay rent during the crisis, and that the crime was not victimless.
Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the pleas. The case, No. 4:26-CR-14-M, was investigated by the HUD Office of Inspector General and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Kinston Police Department.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Wilmington 的 Alton Lennon 联邦大楼与美国法院（北卡罗来纳东区联邦地区法院 Wilmington 分部所在地），本案认罪在此区受理。照片：Carol M. Highsmith 摄，公共领域（美国国会图书馆藏），经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Alton Lennon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Wilmington, home to the Wilmington Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, where the pleas were accepted. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, public domain (Library of Congress), via Wikimedia Commons.
