August 27, 2019
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Darcy Brioso pleaded guilty to one count each of first-degree theft and identity theft, both felonies, in Clark County Superior Court after an investigation by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU).
Brioso will serve 30 days in jail and 150 days on electronic home confinement in Spokane County. She was ordered to pay more than $213,000 in restitution to AFLAC and the costs for the home confinement.
Brioso and her foster daughter, Delta Lynn Jackson, were charged as co-defendants in the case in March. Both women previously lived in Clark County. The charges against Jackson were later dropped.
According to the investigation, Brioso collected more than $400,000 from AFLAC by filing fraudulent claims from 2012 until 2015. The claims involved fake medical bills for injuries, surgeries, hospital stays and medical treatments for herself and six other people. The bills listed medical providers in Washington state, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. Many of the bogus injuries also involved subsequent short-term disability claims.
Among the fraudulent claims:
- More than $91,000 in medical bills for Brioso for an ankle fracture after an ATV accident, pneumonia diagnosis, broken bones from a car accident and short-term disability claims.
- Nearly $34,000 in medical bills for Jackson for broken bones sustained in a car accident, a liver cyst and short-term disability claims.
- Nearly $20,000 in medical bills and short-term disability claims on behalf of Brioso’s former employee and roommate for a broken hip sustained in a car accident.
Kreidler’s CIU investigates insurance fraud and works with the Washington State Patrol and state and local prosecutors on criminal cases. Insurance fraud costs the average family $400 to $700 per year in increased premiums. Insurance companies are required by law to report fraud to the commissioner.
Consumers can report suspected insurance fraud on the insurance commissioner’s website.