Woman Files Insurance Claim For Stolen Items Using Receipts From Store That Didn’t Exist

It’s quite awful to have more than $116,000 in jewelry, electronics and high-end accessories, including a Lois Vuitton purse, stolen from the back of your dad’s Lexus. Awful! But if those items perhaps never even existed and you file an insurance claim on them using receipts from a store that wasn’t open on the date of the receipts… Don’t expect any sympathy from police.

That’s what authorities say was the case for one woman, who reported a Lexus stolen and then submitted receipts to her insurance company for items she claimed were missing from the car. But according to police, those proofs of purchase came from a store that didn’t exist yet, reports the Delaware County Daily Times in Delaware, Pa.

Police investigating the incident say a 38-year-old woman parked her dad’s Lexus SUV on July 5 and went off to watch Fourth of July fireworks. She claimed that when she returned, the car was gone, along with a purse with a $30,900 diamond engagement ring, a $6,000 diamond bracelet, a $79,800 diamond pendant, a $1,500 iPad and $650 sunglasses inside.

She filed a claim with Allstate Insurance, say cops in the charging document, including receipts for the purse, iPad, and sunglasses. She also claimed that Allstate had appraised the jewelry before, and included receipts for those items as well.

Here’s where the problems come in with her story: First, she never showed up for an examination under oath with Allstate’s attorney to repeat her telling of events. A jewelry store owner also told agents later that his store hadn’t opened for business until March 2011, although her receipts allegedly listed purchases for jewelry in 2008 and 2009. Oops.

“Therefore, [the owner] could not have sold any jewelry to [the woman’s fiance] and receipts provided to Allstate are fictitious,” the document states.

That document charges her with charged with filing a false insurance claim, attempted theft and receiving stolen property, all third-degree felonies. She was also charged with felony criminal use of a communication facility and forgery.

Police: Ridley Twp. resident filed bogus insurance claim [Delaware County Daily Times]

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