A man and woman have been sentenced to five months in jail and five years probation for using the identity of a U.S. Army veteran to apply for government benefits, including through the Veterans Administration, for Section 8 housing in Brooklyn, New York.
Kevin Middleton, 41, and Tonni Chapman, 50, formerly of Brooklyn were sentenced on March 29 by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to five months in jail and five years’ probation. The judge also executed a Judgment Order of Restitution in the amount of $34,399 for which the defendants are jointly liable, according to a Department of Justice release.
“These defendants preyed upon a U.S. Army veteran, stealing his identification to fraudulently obtain government benefits that included more than $35,000 in rent subsidies for their New York City Housing Authority apartment,” said New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber.
Kevin Chapman, the victim in this case, is a U.S. Army veteran and the former husband of Tonni Chapman.
Middleton pleaded guilty to first-degree identity theft and second-degree bail jumping and Chapman pleaded guilty to first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and second-degree bail jumping on March 13.
Middleton posed as Chapman in Feb. 2018 and obtained a non-driver’s license identification card from the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles in Chapman’s name, according to the investigation. The I.D. card was issued in Chapman’s name and with his date of birth, but with Middleton’s photograph.
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Middleton also obtained a replacement Social Security card in Chapman’s name under his Social Security number, and he forged Chapman’s signature onto the card. The defendant also obtained a New York State identification card in Chapman’s name, but with the defendant’s photograph.
Middleton posed as Chapman in May 2018 and went to the Department of Veterans Affairs office in Manhattan and applied for a replacement VA card in Chapman’s name. He used the fraudulently obtained non-driver’s license, NYS I.D. card and Social Security card as proof of identity. A replacement VA card was mailed to the defendant in Brooklyn, with his photo and Kevin Chapman’s name and date of birth on it.
The defendants applied for benefits pursuant to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) using Kevin Chapman’s identity and received approximately $1,000 in benefits between May 31, 2018 and Jan. 13, 2020.
They also used Kevin Chapman’s identity to receive social services from the VA to which they were not entitled while living in a homeless shelter. In approximately Sept. 2018, social workers from VA assisted Middleton with his application for Section 8 housing, in Chapman’s name, which the New York City Housing Authority expedited because of his status as a military veteran. The application was granted and in Nov. 2018 the couple moved into the apartment and the Department of Housing and Urban Development paid more than $35,000 to subsidize the defendant’s rent at the Boulevard Houses in East New York.
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On June 8, 2019, police went to the apartment in response to a 911 call involving a domestic dispute and were told by Tonni Chapman that her assailant (who was not home at the time) was Kevin Chapman. The next day, the police returned to the apartment and arrested Kevin Middleton, who was posing as Kevin Chapman. When he failed to appear in court in July 2019, a bench warrant was issued for Kevin Chapman.
Following an investigation in 2021, the defendants were indicted in connection with the impersonation of Kevin Chapman and were arrested.
After failing to appear in late 2022, the defendants were arrested in Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan. 24, 2023 and charged with bail jumping. They were returned to Brooklyn on Feb. 9, 2023.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.