A Murrysville couple arrested Friday morning is accused of bilking the federal government of more than $220,000 in coronavirus-related relief money by filing false claims for rental assistance — including for units that were unoccupied and uninhabitable in the name of fake renters in need, police said.

Devon Lane, 29, and Victoria Bennett, 36, were taken into custody by Monroeville police and held for arraignment at Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh.

Lane faces charges of conspiracy, theft, identify theft, forgery and money laundering, while Bennett is charged with conspiracy and device fraud, court records show. Lane was released on his own recognizance.

Police said that officials served search warrants at the residence and obtained arrest warrants following several weeks of investigative work. The investigation used the cooperation of Allegheny County’s human services department and ACTION Housing, the nonprofit developer that administers funds such as the relief grants.

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The investigation into the pair began in late August.

Employees of ACTION Housing first flagged what they believed could be fraudulent applications for emergency rental assistance funded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress during the covid-related economic slowdown.

Among suspicious findings related to Lane’s property management company, Lane Living Management LLC: six applications tied to a property with only one certificate of occupation; the same unemployment assistance identifer used across a dozen different applications; and claims in the name of tenants who weren’t actually behind on rent, a criminal complaint shows.

The county’s human services department requested help from the Allegheny County Police, which assigned detectives from its General Investigations Unit to the case.

Investigators obtained search warrants to track the defendants’ email and bank accounts, including online banking services such as CashApp and AppleCash. According to the complaint, surveillance video caught them transferring the fraudulently received money and spending it at Lowe’s and Walmart stores in North Versailles and Delmont and at the Macy’s department store at Monroeville Mall.

Detectives also “applied for and served a series of search warrants and conducted interviews of property owners and complainants,” Allegheny County Police said.

Lane applied for more than $645,000 of relief-related funding, according to investigators. He received $222,280 before officials discovered the fraud.

Officials asked anyone with information about the rental fraud case to call the county police tipline at 1-833-255-8477 (1-833-ALL-TIPS). Callers can remain anonymous.

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