NEW YORK, NY (11/02/2010)(readMedia)– A Rochester woman who fraudulently collected $245,900 in workers’ compensation benefits by sending her insurance company fake prescription drug claims was arrested Oct. 8, the New York Insurance Department reported.
Monroe County sheriffs arrested Sarah L. Northern, 46, of Hillendale Street.
Northern is accused of submitting false documents to Kemper Insurance Company for nearly three years before a claims representative noticed discrepancies in the paperwork she sent in.
She started receiving workers’ compensation benefits after a job-related injury in 2006. She later contacted Kemper telling the insurer that she didn’t realize prescription drugs would also be covered. She said she had been paying cash for prescriptions for several years and the insurer advised her to submit her receipts for payment. At that point, Northern started faxing paperwork to Kemper documenting prescription drugs she claimed to have had filled between 2006 and 2009.
An investigation by the Insurance Department’s Frauds Bureau, the Workers’ Compensation Board Office of Inspector General and Monroe County sheriffs found that
Northern received payments from Kemper for prescriptions she never obtained.
Northern was charged with second degree insurance fraud. She could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if she is convicted. She was released on bail pending a hearing in Monroe County Court.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Bill Gargan.
Source: New York State Insurance Department