In 2005 and 2006 alone, he suffered through three devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes, a tornado in Indiana and flooding in New Hampshire.
Or so he told the Federal Emergency Management Agency, authorities say.
James is charged with cheating the government out of more than $30,000 by filing over 30 fraudulent emergency-relief claims with FEMA
- all while living in Atlanta.
He pleaded not guilty on Friday to the charges, which could land him in prison for more than 30 years.
Dozens of people have been accused of defrauding the government in the aftermath of storms such as Hurricane Katrina, which pummeled New Orleans in August 2005. And some of the swindlers stole far more money than James is accused of receiving. In one case, two women scammed FEMA out of more than $700,000.
But authorities say few scam artists were as prolific as James, who allegedly used a variety of fake addresses, names and Social Security numbers and received 15 checks in all.
"He has now been caught and will be called to answer for this extensive fraud," said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
James' attorney, Anna Blitz, said it is too early to say how she plans to defend him.
Prosecutor Steve McClain would not say how the 30-year-old James was caught or exactly when authorities realized they were being scammed, and he would not give details of the property damage James claimed to have suffered.
But the prosecutor said many of the man's claims were made though through FEMA's toll-free hot line, and "he used different information for each claim, so it made it more difficult to notice there were duplicate claims being filed."
FEMA officials would not comment specifically on James' case, but prosecutors defended the agency, given the size of the disasters it dealt with.
