SJ Man Charged with WTC Scam

A South Jersey man accused of trying to profit from the September 11th attack was in court on Monday. Authorities say his scam was pretending to have a wife who died in the World Trade Center.

State prosecutors say that Mark Christopher of Sicklerville invented a wife and concocted the story of her death in an effort to swindle charities out of money that was intended for the families of victims. Authorities say their investigation clearly shows that there never was any wife, but Christopher was still talking about his alleged imaginary mate in court.

Mark Christopher/DEFENDANT: "The fact that my wife is missing and still is missing overshadows me being in jail."

Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit with "not guilty" scrawled on his chest, Christopher was sticking by his story. However, the state charges that using a phony name, Mark Palmeri, Christopher falsely claimed that his wife Lisa, who prosecutors say never existed, died in the World Trade Center on September 11th.

The alleged scam was uncovered when Christopher attempted to collect relief money from the Red Cross and FEMA.

Christopher has been charged with theft by deception, identity theft and falsifying records. Police say that he also claimed he had a 3-year-old son, and applied for $63,000 in family relief funds for tuition, mortgage, credit card bills and funeral expenses.

John Haggerty/DIV. CRIMINAL JUSTICE: "FEMA noticed that this particular application was suspect in nature, and moved it back to the Division of Criminal Justice for investigation." Christopher was arrested in January but then jumped bail. He says told the judge that he didn't appear in court in April because he was in the hospital, but refused to sign off to release his hospital records to confirm that.

In Christopher's old neighborhood, residents had little to say except that they're disgusted by the idea of taking of falsely taking relief money during a national tragedy.

Authorities say that Christopher had actually collected about $20,000 of the money he applied for when he was arrested. He's being held on $50,000 bail, and if convicted faces three to five years in prison.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: 6 ABC-AP