View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2002/07/30/20409.htm
Lenette Weishaar, 42, of Vallejo, Calif., was arrested and charged with three counts of felony insurance fraud in one of the largest individual workers’ compensation fraud cases in the city of Vacaville. Weishaar was booked into the Solano County Jail and is scheduled for arraignment on July 31. Bail was set at $50,000.
A Vacaville Police Department dispatcher, Weishaar injured her lower back on Oct. 26, 1994, when she allegedly slipped and fell in a hallway at work.
Weishaar filed a workers’ compensation claim, began medical treatment, and over the next few years, had three back surgeries. According to investigators from the California Department of Insurance Criminal Investigations Branch’s Fraud Division, Weishaar was awarded 100 percent permanent disability in early 1999, which provided her with disability payments for life. In addition, she was awarded a future medical award to cover all medical costs to cure or relieve the effects of the injury.
In late 1999, the City of Vacaville reportedly received a change of address from Weishaar noting she was moving to Southern California. An initial investigation indicated she was living on a boat. Video surveillance was initiated, which revealed Weishaar’s physical activities were reportedly not consistent with a 100 percent disability rating.
Over the next year, extensive video footage was taken of Weishaar’s activities, including a camping trip during August 2000. The videos demonstrated Weishaar’s physical activities allegedly contradicted her statements made to evaluating and treating physicians in Alameda County, and statements made in a sworn deposition. These misstatements contributed to an over-assessment of her disability rating, which was reduced to 49 percent.
The lifetime disability value in this case is estimated to exceed $1.8 million.