State Police book Kenner woman with insurance fraud | NOLA.com

Authorities have arrested a Kenner woman who they say?received money to repair her house after Hurricane Gustav, then filed a claim with a separate insurance company for the same damages. Loretta Burgess, 53, was taken into custody Friday after an investigation by the State Police Insurance Fraud and Auto Theft unit, according to Trooper Melisa Matey, a spokeswoman for the department.

Investigators received a complaint about the alleged fraud from California-based Geo Vera Insurance in July 2009, Matey said. Representatives said Burgess had filed a claim with the company in March of that year for damage to her former residence on Cabernet Drive in Kenner that she said occurred during a heavy rainstorm.

Geo Vera paid out an undisclosed amount of money on the claim. But representatives discovered that Burgess had made a previous claim at that address. Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.?paid Burgess $29,000 for damage to the residence that occurred during Hurricane Gustav in 2008, Matey said.

"They obtained a copy of the paperwork and the photographs from the 2008 claim and compared them with the photographs and paperwork from the 2009 claim and found it was the same damage," Matey said.

Burgess, of 2 Chalet Court, Kenner, was booked Friday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna with insurance fraud, an arrest report said. It was unclear Monday why it took investigators more than two years to book Burgess in connection with the case

Burgess was released Friday on a $50,000 bond. She could not be reached for comment.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/08/state_police_book_kenner_woman.html

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