CHARLESTON, W.Va.–A Charleston woman was charged with fraud for allegedly receiving money and hotel accommodations meant to go to Yeager Airport landslide victims.
27 year old Lindsay Meadows was given a $1500 check for living expenses and was provided lodging at Red Roof in from the airport last month. According to Kanawha County Magistrate Court, Meadows falsely convinced airport authorities that she and her family were forced from their Keystone Drive home.
The airport approved her for aid, and booked her at the Kanawha City Red Roof Inn. She was kicked out of the inn for smoking in the hotel, and was moved to a second hotel.
Later last month, Kim Lewis, the assistant director at Yeager Airport, learned that Meadows didn’t live at the address she supplied. This launched an investigation by Yeager’s police department. They determined that the address was real, but the building was uninhabited and nowhere near the landslide area.
Meadows was eventually taken into custody and charged with Felony Obtaining Under False Pretense. She is being held at South Central Regional Jail.
The Airport has spent about $110,000 on hotel rooms and stipends up to this point for displaced residents. Airport spokesman Mike Plante said they’re still doing everything they can to help residents that were affected.
“We still have 10 families in hotels, and we’re looking to address that as quickly as possible,” he said.
Meadows is the first person charged with fraud in the airport’s relief efforts, but Plante said the airport is still looking into other cases where the airport may have been taken advantage of.