MARION, N.C. (FOX Carolina) - Officials said a western North Carolina woman was indicted by a federal grand jury after a FEMA fraud investigation.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration provided aid to victims in western North Carolina after the area was devastated by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, 2024.

Investigators said nearly five months after the hurricane, 40-year-old Peggy Cantrell filed an application for disaster assistance, claiming a residence she owned on Beaver Creek Road in Marion was damaged in the storm. She allegedly wrote in the application that she had lived at the address for 25 years.

The U.S. Department of Justice said she claimed all of her important personal documents “got washed away.”

Cantrell was paid more than $30,600 by FEMA.

Officials later determ

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