Four individuals were charged with insurance fraud felonies and one woman pleaded guilty in Spokane County Superior Court. The individuals were charged based on investigations by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) organized by Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.
Kendel Sonsalla, 39, pleaded guilty to making a forged claim for health care payment. She was charged with two counts of false insurance claims and one count of first-degree theft related to fraudulent billings to AFLAC between 2010 and 2014 after the SIU’s investigation. According to the SIU’s investigation, Sonsalla abused the AFLAC supplemental dental policy provider to her by the dental clinic she worked for in Liberty Lake. AFLAC had paid her $6,470 for 19 false claims she filed using her family members’ names.
Spokane native and former insurance agent Gregory Guzman, 50, was charged with two counts of second-degree theft. The SIU’s investigation found that Guzman allegedly pocketed insurance premiums from a local business into his own personal account and that he was only caught after his manager at the insurance agency came across evidence in Nov. 2013. Further investigation revealed that Guzman had been misappropriating insurance over $6,100 from six clients. Guzman was fired by his agency and his license to sell was revoked Sept. 2014.
Tony Whitt, 51, was charged with one count of first-degree attempted theft and one count of submitting a false insurance claim. According to investigators, the Spokane man reported to his insurance company and authorities on Feb. 2014 that his 2011 Ford F350 truck was stolen. Police, however, found the truck in the employee parking lot at a local Ford auto dealer on Jul. 2014. Police records specified that Whitt had his car appraised for a trade-in sometime during Jan. 2014 when he purchased two other automobiles that month. He failed to appear on his arraignment Feb. 8, and the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
Both Crystal Wheeler, 39, and James Thomas III, 39, were charged with one count each of attempted first-degree theft, solicitation and false insurance claims. Wheeler filed a claim that her Ford truck was damaged by an acquaintance. The acquaintance testified that afterward Thomas asked him to file the insurance claim and to split the settlement—Thomas supposedly estimated that the acquaintance would earn $6,000 to $10,000 through the arrangement. The acquaintance refused and eventually told authorities that Wheeler and Thomas managed to obtain his auto insurance policy information and submitted the claim without his knowledge while he was on a trip out of state. Later, the acquaintance gave investigators a recorded conversation with Thomas describing that he was driving the truck when it collided with another driver. The acquaintance also provided investigators the text messages he had received from Wheeler, saying that she had filed a claim for the damage with his insurance company. After Wheeler failed to appear at her arraignment Feb. 8, the judge issued a warrant for her arrest.
