Windstorm Claim Wafts Woman into Court

Less than five months after being convicted of insurance fraud, a woman is facing yet another felony charge for allegedly trying to attain an undue insurance payment.

Cheryl Tchida was arrested on April 1^st by Woodbury police and jailed on suspicion of defrauding an insurance company.

Three days later she was charged in Washington County District Court and now faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine if convicted.

As reported in the Woodbury Bulletin, after a criminal complaint was filed by a Farmers Insurance Company rep, Woodbury police were alerted to the case. The rep reported that Tchida submitted a claim alleging that her trampoline had been damaged in a wind and hail storm in October of 2010.

She also allegedly submitted other claims for damage to things such as pool floats, a swing set, two grills and part of her deck.

When asked to provide documentation, Tchida allegedly faxed “doctored receipts” to the insurance company for a $3,500 swing set. A check of the receipt at Toys R Us revealed the actual receipt was for a $12 purchase, the complaint states.

It was also reported that Tchida also submitted a claim for a $2,300 gas grill, supposedly purchased at Sears. An investigation of that claim showed that the submitted receipt was actually for warranty work at Sears, not for the purchase of a grill. According to the complaint however, that claim was withdrawn once Tchida was contacted about the grill, which she later told police was actually worth $350 and still at her house.  I guess she didn’t count on smart people looking at her claim. 

In an interview with police, Tchida said she had cut and pasted information for a comparable swing set. She also admitted the Sears grill claim was for warranty work and that she had conducted a similar cut-paste function for that receipt.

Tchida should be rather familiar with the way insurance fraud cases work though, being that she was sentenced to 40 days in jail in January for one count of felony insurance fraud as well. In this case, she reported that a $5,000 TV set, $10,000 in tools and $6,500 were stolen in a burglary. She was also charged with falsely reporting a crime, even though that charge was later dropped as part of a plea deal. 

 The inconsistencies in her statements and some conflicting information led police to conduct a search of her house. Surprise surprise, they found the supposedly stolen TV set concealed in a room above her garage. Police were also told be other family members that no burglary had ever even occurred.

On May 19^th Tchida is set to make her first appearance in court for the new charges.

As always though, she is considered innocent until prove guilty.