STOLEN CHECKS & A HEX

HRA gal’s ‘scam’

A Human Resources Administration employee was busted Thursday for allegedly stealing $300,000 in city funds — and using some of the money to pay for a “supernatural curse” on an ex-boyfriend.

Eliana Bauta, 35, of The Bronx, who was responsible for doling out funds to needy people, allegedly faked documents and stole HRA checks.

In August 2014, she put in a request for emergency funds tied to an unspecified disaster for a person identified in the complaint only as “Individual 1,” prosecutors said.

The money was meant to “replace household items and provide advance rent for a new apartment,” but when investigators from the city Department of Investigation questioned Individual 1, that person turned out to be a tarot-card reader, court papers say.

The card reader admitted ththat Bauta put the funds on his welfare card not for disasaster recovery but because sshe owed him money “for having put a supernatural curse on an ex-boyfriend,” according to the ccourt papers. Bauta was busted by the US Marshals in Florida and appeared in Tampa federal court Thursday afternoon.

The feds said she filed at least 16 false applications to enrich others, including in July 2014, when she pretended her mother was the victim of a home fire.

DOI investigators learned that the FDNY documents attached to the application were doctored to make it look as if her mom was the victim when it was actually someone else, court papers said.

Also charged Thursday were Geraldine Perez, 60, and Eric Gonzales, 26, who the feds alleged worked with Bauta in a separate scheme to steal real emergency-benefits checks issued to actual HRA clients.

Perez and Gonzales deposited the checks in their own bank accounts and shared the proceeds with Bauta, the feds said.

In total, the two schemes resulted in losses to the HRA of at least $309,000 in public funds, including more than $100,000 in fake checks and more than $200,000 in stolen checks, prosecutors said.

The three were charged with conspiracy to commit federal program theft, wire fraud and bank fraud, among other charges.

Bauta faces up to 74 years in prison if convicted.