Woman who defrauded insurance company must pay back thousands

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A Riverview woman will have two years to pay back the insurance company she defrauded after being ordered to pay restitution as part of her sentence.

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Angie-Jo Carter, 47, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of defrauding Manulife Insurance between December 2021 and February 2022 and her trial was set for January but she ended up pleading guilty on Dec. 19.

Prosecutor Gabin Kabou told the court in December that Carter was an employee of IGT Canada Solutions. Company employees had health benefits through Manulife and between September 2021 and February 2022, and Carter submitted 23 claims for health services online that were later determined to be fraudlant.

Kabou said a Manulife investigator contacted health-care providers to see if Carter or a member of her family had received the services and verified the fraud. RCMP were then notified and Carter was charged.

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Kabou said Carter’s 23 fraudulent claims totaled $15,282.56 but the total amount of the fraud is the $7,886.36 she was reimbursed by Manulife.

“I definitely take ownership of that and I want to do what I can to pay them back as quickly as possible,” Carter told the court.

The Crown and defence asked for a six-month conditional sentence with two months on house arrest and four on a curfew, followed by 18 months probation. On Thursday, Judge Brigitte Volpé accepted the recommendation and ordered the $7,886.36 in restitution paid back by the end of the two-year sentence.

“This is truly something out of character for Ms. Carter,” said defence lawyer Denis Sawyer, adding there are strong prospects for rehabilitation.

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Prosecutor Lise Landry said the crime involved many separate instances of fraud and claims totaling more than $15,000. She said it took a lot of resources to investigate and find out what Carter was doing. Landry also said Carter’s actions may create mistrust between the insurance company and legitimate clients who want their claims paid out.

Judge Volpé followed the recommendation, even though she found it on the low side, saying “people go to jail for less than this.” The judge said frauds like this affect other clients, likely with higher premiums.

“Somebody has to pay for these amounts that were defrauded,” she said.

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