Family Care Provider Arrested For Insurance Fraud

NEW YORK, NY (10/20/2010)(readMedia)-- An Ogdensburg woman was arrested Oct. 10 for collecting $46,800 in disability benefits while working as a self-employed family care provider, the New York State Insurance Department reported.

Karen L. Davis, 52, of Washington Street, was arrested by state police at Ogdensburg.

Davis started collecting disability in 2005 after claiming that a job-related injury left her unable to work because of chronic neck pain. She claimed she suffered the injury while working as a rehabilitation specialist with the Cerebral Palsy Association of the North Country.

Investigators with the Insurance Department's Frauds Bureau discovered that Davis later worked as a family care provider and submitted documents to an insurer, the Unum Group, falsely stating that she was physically unable to work.

She was charged with third degree insurance fraud and a first degree count of falsifying business records. She could be sentenced to seven years in prison if she is convicted. She was released in her own recognizance pending a hearing.

The case is being prosecuted by St. Lawrence County Chief Assistant District Attorney Amanda Palmer.

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