Stephanie Pepper Snider of Renton, Washington, has pleaded guilty in a Washington state court to one felony count of filing a fraudulent insurance claim for a diamond ring. She was sentenced to 240 hours of community service and ordered to repay State Farm Insurance $10,617.
Officials charged Snider after an investigation by the Criminal Investigations Unit (“CIU”) of the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner (“OIC”).
The OIC said in a statement that, according to its investigation, Snider filed a $10,617 claim with State Farm Insurance in August 2016 for a 2-carat diamond ring she said she lost the day before.
Then, prosecutors said, in June 2017, Snider filed a claim with Allstate Insurance for the same ring, stating it had been stolen from her apartment.
When Allstate questioned Snider about the State Farm claim, she said she not aware of the claim or payment. Allstate denied the claim and referred the case to the CIU.
In April 2018, Snider's former fiancé showed detectives the ring, receipt, diamond certificate, and a photo of Snider wearing the ring in October 2016, after State Farm had paid her claim. The man said he was not aware that Snider had filed the 2016 claim with State Farm.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].