Insurance fraud investigators say an East Naples woman created fake medical and car wash bills after claiming she spilled Dunkin’ Donuts coffee on herself.
Jennifer Faye Sanders, 34, of the 2400 block of Sunset Avenue, was arrested by the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud Monday. She faces charges of creating a false insurance claim, and scheming to defraud.
According to the affidavit, Sanders got coffee at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Collier Boulevard March 14 with her husband. Inside the shop, the employees were ignoring customers and throwing things at each other, Sanders said.
When she got her coffee and drove off, the lid came off the cup and spilled hot coffee in her lap.
Sanders said she got out of the car without putting it in park and watched as the vehicle rolled into a curb and scratched a rim.
Sanders’ husband returned to Dunkin’ Donuts to speak with a manager and get more coffee. When no one helped him, he left. Sanders later called the Dunkin’ Donuts’ corporate headquarters.
Then on April 22, Sanders sent an email to Nationwide Insurance attaching medical receipts for treatment of her burns totalling $200 along with a $170 charge to have her car cleaned.
But when Sanders met with her insurance agent in May, she gave a different account, saying she and her husband bought supplies and cleaned the car themselves.
She said she used a Naples Car Wash letterhead to come up with an estimate for the cost of such cleaning, and did not submit it as a receipt.
Her agent also found the receipts from her doctor’s office has been altered and some of the information whited out.
Nationwide Insurance referred Sanders’ claim to the Division of Insurance Fraud which later arrested Sanders.
When confronted by detectives, Sanders said she didn’t mean to do anything wrong by altering the documents.
