The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, which annually produces a list of “largest, most-brazen or dumbest insurance schemes,” announced nine winners for 2008.
Insurance crime, which annually steals $80 billion, has grown more violent and invasive in recent years and “The No-Class of 2008″ reflects that trend, the coalition said.
The names of the winners and the details of their crimes, as related by the coalition, are:
o Kenneth Allen, who led an arson ring that torched 50 homes to create millions in bogus insurance claims in the Indianapolis and Muncie areas. The gang usually bought low-priced homes and loaded them with used furniture to inflate the claims. A crooked insurance adjuster help inflate claims. Mr. Allen was sentenced to a 4 year prison term.
o Pennsylvania Appellate Judge Michael Joyce is awaiting sentence for collecting $440,000 from auto insurers claiming he was nearly crippled by a 5 mph auto collision. He was convicted after evidence surfaced that despite his “injuries” he golfed, went roller blading, scuba dived in the Caribbean and obtained a pilot license.
o Samuel Aaron Brabson received a one year sentence after claiming a car crash left him nearly crippled and largely confined to a wheelchair. The Richmond, Va. man made more than $1.2 million in disability claims, while competing in triathlons and going mountain hiking.
o Dentists Letitia Ballance and Michael DeRose paid $10 million to settle federal civil charges for bogus Medicaid claims involving children. The Coalition said at least two kids each had 16 root canals and steel crowns.
o Houston physician Dr. Ira Klein was sentenced to serve 11 years for health-insurance fraud in a case that saw him seek to kill those he thought had contributed to his conviction. He attempted to pay a hit man to run over a federal prosecutor, shoot his wife and throw acid in an FBI agent's face. The FBI stopped the scheme.
o Michael Paul Schook told so many people he'd burn down his Suffield, Conn. home for insurance money that it seemed half the town knew. At least three people turned him in after he kept saying how easy the scheme would be to get away with. Mr. Schook received seven years.
o Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt are both serving life terms after the two elderly Los Angeles women befriended a pair of homeless men, took out $3 million in life policies, naming themselves as beneficiaries and had them run over.
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