The second day of testimony in the trial of Stockton Unified School District board member AngelAnn Flores began Wednesday morning with the prosecution’s first witness: Andrew White, a special investigator for Sentry Insurance. His testimony focused on the insurance fraud charge tied to a 2022 minor car accident involving Flores.

The fraud charge is one of three felony counts the second-term school board member faces after a grand jury indicted her in January. Flores is also fighting two embezzlement charges for allegedly making personal purchases worth several hundred dollars on a school district credit card.

But while the initial search of Flores’ home in 2023 —  and the announcements of her arrest and initial charging in spring 2024 — focused largely on her credit card use, the credit card claims haven’t been the main focus of Flores’ trial so far.

Rather, prosecutors kicked off opening statements Tuesday with the insurance fraud theory. On Wednesday, starting with White, the witness testimony focused entirely on that charge too. 

Insurance investigator testifies

According to White, Flores acquired a six-month insurance policy on November 15, 2022. A claim related to Flores’ accident was filed three days later, on November 18, with supporting photographs uploaded on November 21.

The collision occurred when Flores’ Hyundai hit an unoccupied parked Dodge sedan in a parking lot, according to testimony. In opening statements Tuesday, the prosecution argued that the collision actually happened early on Nov. 15, and that Flores bought car insurance later that same day. 

According to prosecutors’ theory, Flores and the other driver then misled insurers about the date of the incident. 

One of the photos submitted showing damage to the Dodge was a screenshot that displayed a timestamp of “Tuesday at 6:51 a.m.,” which prosecutors allege corresponds to November 15, hours before the policy went into effect.

Overall, White testified that the claim raised internal red flags due to the short window between date of the policy purchase and incident report. The file was escalated to him after Stacy Maguire, a claims adjuster, noted the timing.

Flores, according to White, acknowledged during a recorded phone call presented by the prosecution that the situation “looked a little odd.” She told him she felt “nervous” and “tired” because she had just finished a work shift at the time of the accident.  When offered the opportunity to provide documentation verifying the date of the incident, Flores said she had no evidence to back up her claim, according to the recording.

Investigator questioned

During cross-examination, the defense questioned why, according to White, he never contacted the owner or most recent driver of the Dodge for his investigation. And the defense highlighted the fact that Sentry ultimately approved and paid the claim, in the amount of $2,010.68, in a check cashed by owner Keona Morris. Defense lawyers cited the company’s own stance, quoting internal language stating “they wouldn’t pay anything they didn’t owe.”

White testified that after concluding his internal review, he referred the case to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Approximately two and a half months later, he was contacted by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, according to defense questioning.

It was “well after a year after you had closed those reports,” Natalie Bowman, one of Flores’ lawyers, later pointed out.

Attorney Tori Verber Salazar — San Joaquin County’s former district attorney, who is also representing Flores — then drilled White on how Sentry flagged Flores’ claim as suspect in the first place and on how well he’d prepared to testify.

Under questioning by Verber Salazar, White testified that Flores was responsive when he reached out for records for his investigation of the allegedly suspect claim. But the records she provided didn’t change the investigation’s outcome, White said.

Car owner testifies

Deputy District Attorney Donald Vaughn next called Keona Morris, the owner of the damaged Dodge Flores allegedly hit, to the witness stand. 

Under questioning by Vaughn, Morris testified that she didn’t submit the collision claim immediately because she and her then-boyfriend, the driver, “didn’t have all the information from” Flores.

In opening statements Tuesday, the prosecutor had argued that the driver coordinated with Flores to mislead the insurance company about the date of the collision.

In cross-examination, Verber Salazar questioned Morris about whether she informed insurers that her then-boyfriend had been driving, and that he wasn’t on her insurance policy. Morris repeated several times that she couldn’t recall. Flores’ lawyer also questioned Morris regarding why she didn’t seek more money from Sentry.

The insurance rep

Finally, the prosecution called to the witness stand the Sentry representative who, according to testimony, first flagged Flores’ claim.

Throughout questioning by Vaughn, Sentry representative Stacy Maguire highlighted multiple places in Flores’ insurance paperwork where she signed to confirm that her insurance policy had started Nov. 15. In at least one instance, an insurance representative appeared to have signed too.

When Maguire received the claim from the Nov. 18 collision she flagged the claim “because it was very close to the date the policy (was) written,” she testified.

Under cross-examination, Verber Salazar scrutinized why Sentry paid the claim if they believed it was fraudulent. “Do you pay people who make fraudulent claims?” she asked.

“No,” Maguire said. However, the company relies on people providing accurate information, she added.

Throughout the case, Flores’ lawyers have argued that her charges amount to political retaliation for Flores’ participation in an FBI inquiry into a multimillion-dollar Stockton Unified contract, including the activities of some former school board members. 

As a possible motive for retaliation, Verber Salazar has pointed to alleged overlap between those board members’ campaign teams and the teams that helped land District Attorney Ron Freitas and Sheriff Patrick Withrow in office.

Flores’ trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Friday at San Joaquin County Superior Court.

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