| A Clay County woman pleaded guilty Thursday to defrauding the federal government of disaster assistance following the 2016 flood.
Rebecca F. Bragg, 37, is accused of falsely claiming she was the owner of a home to receive nearly $5,000 in home repair benefits from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Bragg had also allegedly been accused of taking $60,000 from a Spencer
Insurance agency.
Prosecutors said Bragg lived in a home in Procious that was owned by her husband’s parents during the June 2016 flood. Later that month, Bragg applied for personal and rental assistance, but was deemed ineligible for home repair assistance because she did not own the home at the time of the flood.
Bragg is accused of obtaining home insurance for the residence where she falsely claimed to be the homeowner. Prosecutors said she used that insurance to receive $4,900 in home repair benefits that she was previously denied.
She faces up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced.
BRAGG EMBEZZLES $60,000 FROM SPENCER INSURANCE AGENCY
09/28/2018)
An investigator for the West Virginia Insurance Commission Fraud Unit says a Spencer agency's former office manager embezzled more than $60,000 from the business.
Rebecca Bragg, 34, of Ovapa is charged with embezzlement.
According to a criminal complaint, she was the office manager and insurance agent for Ashley Insurance Agency in Spencer.
Court documents say the agency's owner, Robert Ashley, reported the embezzlement and said it had been going on from about September 2015 until her termination in September 2017.
Ashley is said to have confronted Bragg last year and she admitted to taking more than $20,000.
An investigation revealed she had actually taken more than $60,000, according to the investigator.
They say she inappropriately and fraudulently collected insurance premium payments of at least 33 customers and converted the money to her own use as well as making multiple unauthorized withdrawals, checks and payments to herself from the agency's bank accounts. | 
