Barbara Morris died in a house fire set by an insurance arsonist. Bob Harper bought a fake health policy after urgently needing a pacemaker. A homeless man received a pittance after being rammed by a motorist who bought bogus auto coverage from a self-styled "Christian" insurer.
These cases are among the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (CAIF)'s 2010 "Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame."
The year's top fraud cases include:
• Jeffrey Alnutt burned down his apartment building for a $277,000 insurance payout. Second-floor tenant Barbara Morris died when she raced back into the flaming Johnstown, N.Y.-area building to rescue her cat. Alnutt received 25 years to life in prison.
• Puget's Sound Agricultural Society sold bogus auto coverage while claiming to be a "Christian" organization. In one case, a severely hurt motorist won $20 million but the insurer merely sent the motorist a bogus document "authorizing" the U.S. government to pay up. Owner James Kalfsbeek received 10 years in prison.
• American Trade Assn. sold fake health insurance to at least 12,000 trusting consumers. Policyholder Bob Harper found his coverage useless when he needed a heart pacemaker. Bart Posey's bogus insurer was one of the largest fake health plans in America before being shut down by the Tennessee insurance department.
• Dr. Stephen Schneider's Wichita, Kan.-area clinic was a haven for addicts seeking easy access to prescription narcotics. Schneider billed insurers for many of the illegal drugs. Nearly 70 patients died from ingesting painkillers he provided. Schneider received 30 years in prison.
• Joel Zellmer drowned his 3-year-old stepdaughter in his swimming pool for $200,000 in life-insurance money, claiming that the child slipped in the pool. Zellmer also had a history of harming children of other women he'd married or dated. Zellmer received a 50-year prison sentence.
• Francis Fredette broke his back after falling from the roof of a convenience store he was burglarizing. But the Clarendon, Vt., man claimed he'd fallen on his landlord's front steps. He fraudulently shook down an insurer for $550,000. The landlords lost their life savings to pay him another $150,000. Fredette received 46 months.
• UPS worker Pierre Lamont Taylor had his buddy shoot him in the leg, then lied that he was shot in an armed holdup while on the job. Taylor was paid $250,000 for his injuries and supposed emotional trauma. But the Maryland Insurance Administration played a lead role in cracking the case, and Taylor received a 5-year suspended sentence.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.