Missouri Man Accused of $284,000 Pandemic Rental Assistance Fraud

ST. LOUIS - A man from Moberly, Missouri was indicted Wednesday and accused of fraudulently obtaining $284,000 that was supposed to provide rental assistance to families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steven W. Hendren, 32, of Moberly, was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. The indictment accuses Hendren of submitting a series of fraudulent applications for rental assistance to the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) beginning in March 2021. The MHDC administered and distributed federal Emergency Rental Assistance.

The indictment says Hendren submitted a series of fraudulent applications falsely listing himself as a landlord, included fictitious lease agreements and financial statements and inflated rent amounts. The MHDC wired a total of $284,840.44 to Hendren's account, the indictment says, much of which Hendren used for personal expenses, including the purchase of a 2020 GMC Yukon.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.

Anyone with information about pandemic fraud is asked to call the Department of Justice's National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or report via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.