A woman who received a settlement after she claimed she lost her wedding rings while swimming has pleaded guilty to two counts of insurance fraud.
And the proof of fraud came in the form of a Facebook photo showing her still wearing the distinctive rings after they were supposedly lost.
Maria Apodaca Simmons of Phoenix, Ariz. made a claim on her
Travelers Insurance policy for the rings on June 4, 2013, according to
azfamily.com news, saying she lost them while swimming in the ocean a few days after her wedding in May.
Then in October of that same year, she also filed a $14,000 claim for her husband's wedding band, claiming it was lost when he was swimming while on vacation.
It was a State Farm employee who thought something was amiss when interviewing Simmons about her husband's ring, when he noticed that she was wearing what appeared to be the wedding rings that she told Travelers were lost while swimming.
Simmons provided State Farm with the same appraisal which included photos of the rings that she used for the Travelers policy.
Cue the Arizona Department of Insurance investigators, who were called in and later discovered a Facebook page with a photo showing her wearing the same rings after the date of the Travelers claim.
The investigators executed a search warrant on Simmons’ residence in Phoenix in January, recovering the supposed ‘lost’ rings and uncovering the fraud.
Simmons first said the rings she was wearing were duplicates, but the jeweler who made the custom rings told investigators that he had only made one set. (continued.)
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She implicated herself in the fraud in statements she made relative to the Travelers claim, and then admitted that the claim made on her husband's wedding band was also fraudulent.
Simmons pled guilty to both counts of fraud on September 23.
As part of a plea agreement, Simmons will be placed on probation, agree to pay restitution $26,953.60 to Travelers Insurance, and $1,005.11 to the Arizona Department of Insurance for investigative costs.
Simmons will be sentenced on October 29.
