Trial set for 2 accused of relief fraud

A jury trial for two San Bruno women who allegedly tried to scam relief aid following the Sept. 9 pipeline explosion has been set for Jan. 10.

A superior court judge today delayed an arraignment but set a trial date for two women accused of trying to fraudulently collect relief aid in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 9 gas pipeline blast.

Lisa Justin, 42, and co-defendant Sonya Smith, 44, both of San Bruno were arrested on Sept. 14 and charged with five felonies for allegedly claiming they were fire victims in a scam to collect relief benefits.

Justin and Smith reportedly sought identification and relief funds using real fire victims' names and addresses they found through Web searches, prosecutors said.

Judge Lisa Novak pushed the co-defendants' felony arraignment hearing scheduled for today to Dec. 28 and set their trial date for Jan. 10.

Justin and Smith remain in San Mateo County jail on $100,000 bail. They were among four people arrested on the same day for engaging in a nearly identical scam. They are among eight people arrested for alleged criminal activity related to the explosion.

Deonte Bennett, 25, of Oakland, and co-defendant Niesha Taylor, 26, of San Francisco are accused of trying to pull off the nearly identical scam on the same day, although prosecutors haven't yet determined if the alleged fraudsters were working in concert.

The two sets of co-defendants face felony charges for burglary, perjury, offering a false document, identity theft and applying for aid using a false name related to the alleged scam.

Daniel Stansbury, 41, of Los Altos was arrested on similar but unrelated fraud charges on Sept. 23, and Paul Lee, 34, of Millbrae was arrested for leading police on a high-speed motorcycle chase after police confronted him amid suspicious circumstances in the affected area in the early morning hours of Sept. 10.

Co-defendants Bennett and Taylor failed to show up for their Oct. 25 arraignment hearing. Taylor was bailed out on Nov. 3, but Bennett remains at large.