The wife of former state Representative Micheal DiMassa, D-West Haven, has admitted to conspiring with her husband to steal the city's share of federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Lauren DiMassa faces 12 to 18 months in prison. Lauren and her husband stole nearly $150,000 from the city by collecting payments for services she never provided to a local youth violence prevention program.
She’s accused of cashing 16 checks, keeping a portion of the money and depositing the rest into a private account. The checks issued were meant for services such as in-home counseling, youth clinic support groups and meals, and Wi-Fi for low-income families.
Micheal DiMassa was also a municipal employee of West Haven at the time, and had the ability to approve the spending.
He’s accused of stealing over $1 million of state and federal pandemic relief money. Prosecutors say he spent tens of thousands of the stolen money at Mohegan Sun Casino. The case against him is still pending.
He also faces a handful of fraud and conspiracy charges.
