Woman charged with filing false insurance claim
State authorities have charged a Reiffton woman with insurance fraud by claiming her car was vandalized after it had become disabled at a convenience store.
Denise Anastasio, 37, of the 200 block of West 46th Street was charged in a criminal complaint filed by the attorney general’s office on Feb. 11. She was arraigned before District Judge Gail M. Greth and remained free to await a hearing on chargers of insurance fraud and attempted theft by deception.
According to the the probable cause affidavit:
On Sept. 17, Anastasio called Progressive Insurance to file a claim, saying the car had been broken into on Sept. 13 or 14 and the ignition and steering column had been damaged.
She told an insurance adjuster a week later that she had parked at the air pumps at the convenience store in West Lawn to put air in her tires and the key broke off in the ignition. She left the vehicle in the lot with the doors locked and windows up.
About a week later, the store manager called to warn her the car would be towed if it wasn’t removed.
Anastio went to the store on Sept. 14. She said the car had been vandalized and provided two photos of the damage.
An insurance investigator obtained security camera images from the store from Sept. 14 to 17. The footage showed the car was worked on several times during that time, with the hood up and the driver’s side door open. A male was seen attaching tow ropes or straps. The car also was in different spaces on the lot during that time.
The footage shows no one vandalizing or breaking into the car.
On Nov. 18, Progressive denied the claim because Anastasio had misrepresented the facts in an attempt to gain coverage for a mechanical failure not covered by her policy.
Progressive turned the matter over to the attorney general’s office for further investigation.
On Jan. 5, a special agent interviewed Anastasio.
She said she loaned her car to a friend in late August and the ignition key broke off and the friend left the car in the lot. She said she did not give her friend permission to disassemble the steering column.
She confirmed filing the insurance claim that the car had been vandalized.
On Nov. 18, Progressive denied the claim because Anastasio had misrepresented the facts in an attempt to gain coverage for a mechanical failure not covered by her policy.