Time may be gold, but a Washington man might be getting more than he bargained for after he was charged for filing a false insurance claim over a luxury Rolex timepiece he claimed was “lost”.
Christopher Michalke of Seattle, WA was charged in King County Superior Court with one felony count of filing a false insurance claim for a $14,753 Rolex watch following an investigation by Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU).
According to the CIU, Michalke purchased a “valuable personal property” insurance rider from USAA in August 2019. The policy was meant to cover his Rolex Submariner, which he had purchased in 2018 for $14,753. About a year after purchasing the rider on August 07, 2020, Michalke filed a claim with USAA saying that he had lost the watch while he was wakeboarding on Lake Washington some three days prior.
But an investigator with USAA uncovered evidence that Michalke had sold his watch to a jewelry store, Bellevue Rare Coins, for $8,750 on August 28, 2020 – just 21 days after he had filed the claim. USAA denied the claim and referred the case to the CIU.
A release from the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner said that Michalke is scheduled to appear in court on October 25, 2021, for a hearing.
