An owner of a Massachusetts physical therapy center has been indicted on Friday, Sept. 14, with 46 counts of auto insurance fraud, 4 counts of larceny, and 3 counts of attempted larceny.

Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office identified the accused as Olga O’Connor Rich, 41 of Rockland, Massaschusetts. Rich was the sole owner of South Coastal Physical Therapy in Brockton.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said that Rich through her company submitted fraudulent physical therapy treatment bills to different auto insurance carriers. These bills were actually for treatments that were never provided, according to Coakley.
The said bills were considered as supplemental and were sent to insurers months or even years after the first billings were received by the insurance carriers for physical therapy treatments that were never provided.

The Attorney General’s Office also alleged Rich to have continued in submitting these fraudulent bills to auto insurance carriers even if her company have closed and stopped all of its operations in December 2009. That in August 2011, Rich still called insurers asking for reimbursements.

Rich was further alleged to have submitted fraudulent bills to insurers amounting to nearly $60,000 and that between August 2007 and August 2011, she was able to received reimbursements of not least than $28,000.

Moreover, Coakley reiterated that insurance fraud cases lead to higher insurance premiums that are bringing great burden on insurance consumers though these are not their doing.

Rich case is now being investigated further by Massachusetts authorities who are working together to combat insurance fraud in the state, including the State Police, the Attorney General’s Office and the state’s Insurance Fraud Bureau.

Insurance Fraud Bureau Executive Director Daniel Johnston said that by eliminating insurance fraud, insurance rates can be lowered. “Taking fraud out of the system reduces insurance rates for all honest citizens,” he said.