LEESBURG, Fla. (TND) — A woman is charged with insurance fraud and grand theft, and she filed the claim that was flagged right after she “completed her pretrial intervention term” from her earlier insurance fraud case.
Authorities with the Florida Department of Financial Services said on Feb. 1, “Rhonda Michelle Gilbert filed an auto insurance claim for damage to her vehicle (front bumper).
“Dairyland Insurance indicated the damage for this claim was the same damage [she] reported in a previous claim, which was also fraudulent.
“She was charged with insurance fraud for the previous claim and was placed into [that] pretrial diversion program.”
The more recent case was for her 2014 black Ford Taurus.
Gilbert told the insurance company she was leaving a Walgreens parking lot, and traffic on the road she was turning onto was stopped, but someone let her in, court documents said.
Then, “Gilbert stated when she began to enter the highway, another vehicle was coming up fast behind her in the Walgreens parking lot and didn’t appear to be aware that she was stopping.
“Gilbert stated she became distracted by this vehicle, which caused her foot to slip off the brake pedal and onto the gas pedal.
“As a result, the front of her vehicle struck the rear of the vehicle in front of her.”
After that, she and the other driver got out and checked for damage.
According to the documents, “Gilbert stated the driver of the vehicle she hit told her there was no damage to his vehicle, at which time he got back in his vehicle and drove away.”
But as for Gilbert’s car, “Her front bumper was ‘knocked off’ and had to be taped up to get it home,” and nobody was hurt so they didn’t call the police.
“When asked about any prior damage,” the trouble began. “Gilbert admitted there was prior damage to the bottom of her bumper from hitting a pole and that she had filed a previous claim for that.
“When asked if the damage (front bumper) from her previous claim had been repaired, Gilbert admitted that it had not been repaired, stating she had not had time to take it to the shop.”
The next day, authorities said she “provided photos of her vehicle” supposedly from “the previous day,” but “show the same damage as the photos she submitted” in “the previous claim in which she was subsequently charged with insurance fraud.”
Gilbert had signed a pretrial intervention contract in that case back on May 8, 2023. It was for 18 months, until Nov. 7, 2024, “However, she completed the terms at the beginning of this year (2024) and was permitted to early terminate.”
This time, they say she committed “false and fraudulent insurance claim” when she “provided photos of pre-existing damage to her vehicle in support of a new claim to obtain the benefit of having the pre-existing damage repaired at a cost of $2,451.04.”
She’s also charged with grand theft because she “endeavored to obtain $2,451.04 for the cost to repair the previous damage to her vehicle.”
Gilbert, 52, spent three hours in jail and was released in lieu of $4,000 bond.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.