A former employee of Zurich American Insurance has been sentenced by a federal judge to spend two years on probation for stealing from her company.

Brenda Lee Hilton, 59, was also ordered to pay back the $21,830 she pocketed.

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Hilton – a Windsor, York County native – received her penalty this week, reported PennLive. Her lawyer, Christopher A. Ferro, pleaded with US Middle District Judge Yvette Kane to spare his client from a prison sentence.

She was a claims specialist with Zurich for 18 years before she chose to defraud the company in 2012, court documents said.

Her role within the company was to manage and authorize payments on workers’ compensation claims. Investigators said that she submitted duplicate claims for a client, and then pocketed the extra payout by depositing it into her bank account.

Ferro said that the scheme was uncovered by Zurich’s security during a regular semi-annual review. Hilton was subsequently fired and later indicted by a federal grand jury; she pleaded guilty to a charge of wire fraud.


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