A 32-year-old Kent woman pleaded guilty to attempting to file a false auto insurance claim.
Tiera Bates received a 12-month deferred sentence and must complete 70 hours of community service by June, according to a media release on Tuesday from the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner in Olympia. Bates entered her plea in King County Superior Court.
According to the investigation, Bates purchased an auto insurance policy on July 3, 2015, from Lyndon Southern Insurance Co. Three days later, she filed a $4,200 claim for a reported hit-and-run collision that damaged her 2006 Cadillac SRX. Investigators determined the photo of the damage to the car that Bates submitted with her claim was taken on July 3, a couple of hours before she bought the policy.
Bates had been added to state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s insurance fraud most wanted list after she failed to appear in King County Superior Court to face charges in April.
In another King County case, two women were charged by the state with fraudulent auto insurance claims.
Aleage Franks, 35, faces a first-degree theft charge and Sisi Imani, 35, a second-degree theft charge in connection with a 2014 case reviewed by Kreidler’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU).
According to the investigation, Imani hit a pole in a parking lot while driving a 1990 Honda Prelude in August 2014, two days after she purchased an auto insurance policy from GEICO. She claimed that Franks and Franks’ three children were in the car with her.
Imani sought medical treatment at Valley Medical Center in Renton after the accident, which was paid for by her health insurance. She reportedly submitted forged medical documents to GEICO, telling the company she paid the bills out of her own pocket. She fraudulently collected $3,657 in personal injury protection and medical expenses.
Franks reportedly submitted forged Valley Medical Center bills for herself and her three children to GEICO. There is no record that Franks or her children were seen at the hospital or were involved in the collision. GEICO paid Franks $13,061 for bodily injury, personal injury protection, and replacement of car seats.
Kreidler’s SIU investigates insurance fraud and works with the state Attorney General’s Office and local prosecutors to prosecute criminal cases. Insurance fraud costs the average family $400 to $700 per year in increased premiums. Consumers can report suspected insurance fraud on the Insurance Commissioner’s website.
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