Insurance Insights

September 9-15, 2013

Jay Bradford

The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the Arkansas Insurance Department (AID) is tasked with investigating and bringing to justice those individuals who commit insurance fraud. Recently, Sandy Williford entered a negotiated plea of guilty in Lonoke County Circuit Court to one count of Fraudulent Insurance Acts (Class D felony). Williford was sentenced to 48 months on probation and the payment of a $500 fine.

Williford’s crime was a pretty simple one. On December 4, 2012, she presented a fake insurance card to employees of the Lonoke County Revenue Office in an attempt to license a vehicle. It was determined the policy listed on the card had expired in 2010 and the vehicle in question had never been covered by the policy. 

On September 5, Rasheba Hill entered a negotiated plea of guilty to one count of Attempted Insurance Fraud (Class A misdemeanor). Hill had presented an altered insurance card to employees of the Central Revenue Office in Little Rock in an effort to license her car without purchasing insurance. Confronted by AID investigators, she admitted she had changed the date on an expired insurance card in order to make it look like it was still in effect. For her efforts she was sentenced to pay a $1,000 fine and serve twelve months of probation. Hill was sentenced as a first offender pursuant to Act 346.

Also on September 5 in the Circuit Court of Baxter County, Cindy Rose entered a plea of guilty to one count of Theft of Property (Class A misdemeanor). In 2012, Rose allegedly had an accident on the job and subsequently filed a workers’ compensation claim with her employer. Rose was instructed to visit a doctor for an evaluation of her injured knee. She received a “Certificate for Return to Work/School” which indicated she could return to work on March 13, 2012. Rose took the form to her employer on March 14. Before delivering the return to work form to her employer, she altered the document to show that she did not have to return to work until March 16, 2012, three days later than her doctor had instructed. 

I remind you that any suspicion of insurance fraud, no matter how large or small, should be reported to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Arkansas Insurance Department at 866-660-0888.

The Arkansas Insurance Department is located at 1200 West Third Street in downtown Little Rock. 1-800-852-5494. www.insurance.arkansas.gov

Jay Bradford was appointed Insurance Commissioner by Governor Mike Beebe on January 15, 2009.