Landlord charged with larceny for allegedly submitted false applications for Massachusetts emergency rental assistance

BOSTON (WWLP) – A Boston-area landlord was arraigned on Monday with eight charges in connection to pandemic-era emergency assistance applications.

According to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Steven Stoicois is a landlord of 249 Maverick Street in East Boston. He allegedly falsified applications for emergency rental assistance on various dates in 2021, fraudulently obtaining $95,400 and unsuccessfully attempting to obtain an additional $136,200.

Although three applications were granted, an investigation revealed that the purported tenants listed either never lived in the reported apartment unit or lived there for a different period than claimed in the application.

According to the court documents, one of the reported tenants was incarcerated for a portion of the claimed tenancy. Another reported tenant had a GPS monitor that revealed they were in East Boston for only three minutes.

In addition, Stoico and his co-defendant Maria Grasso allegedly collaborated to file two duplicative applications for rental assistance, falsely naming Stoico as the rental tenant of Grasso’s husband. Both applications alleged a total of $30,600 in arrears, and both were denied.

Stoicois is charged with the following:

• Larceny over $1,200 (3 counts)
• Attempted larceny over $1,200 (found counts)
• Solicitation to commit larceny over $1,200

Grasso is charged with attempted larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny.

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