State and county investigators accuses a Bristol Borough woman of submitting several fraudulent veterinary invoices to be paid to her. She now faces three felony counts of insurance fraud.
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Insurance Fraud Section, according to the probable affidavit, sent an insurance fraud referral email to the Bucks County District Attorney’s (DA) Office in November of 2023. The referral pertained to an insurance claim processed by Metropolitan General Insurance Company (MetLife). MetLife sent the full insurance claim file to the DA office and requested an investigation of three fraudulent invoices allegedly submitted by Florence Basmajian, 52 of Bristol.
Basmajian obtained a MetLife pet insurance policy in 2022 on her Yorkshire terrier, Nadja, and renewed it July, 2023. In August of same year, a claim, containing three invoices, was submitted for Nadja. The invoices listed three different veterinary hospitals, were dated May through July of 2023 and ranged from $250 to $3,000, said police.
The invoices were processed and MetLife flagged one of the invoices as being fraudulent due to inconsistent font sizes, colors, and whited out sections. An investigator for the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of Allied Universal Investigations was assigned to verify the authenticity of the alleged fraudulent invoice and during the investigation found all three invoices to be fraudulent, according the probable cause.
Court records show the investigating detectives from the DA office met with officials from two of the three hospitals last month. The following is from the affidavit recounting the detectives’ findings into the hospitals and the invoices.
The manager of one hospital confirmed an invoice was fraudulent and the hospital never provided care for Basmajian’s pet. The manager told the detectives, Basmajian failed to show for an April appointment and was billed a “no show” fee of $50. The invoice shown to the manger was for $250. The manager noticed the date was wrong, parts of the invoice were whited-out and words rewritten in a larger font. Lastly, the amount was altered with a different font size than used by the hospital.
The two detectives then met with the custodian of record for the second named hospital. It was confirmed that the invoice shown was fraudulent and did not originate from the hospital. The custodian of record informed the detective that Basmajian was not listed as a patient or pet owner in the hospital’s database. The custodian went on to say the hospital’s invoices begin with the number nine (9) not five (5) as depicted on the shown invoice. It was confirmed that the street address was incorrectly spelled and legitimate invoices from the hospital are printed on blue/white paper with their logo embossed in two places.
The two detectives confirmed the final hospital did not exist; they had no business listing nor did the street exist in the town listed.
Detectives met with Basmajian at her residence in Bristol. She stated her legal name is Florence Bucholski. The probable cause says she admitted to creating and submitting the three invoices. She said, she needed money and hoped to receive payment.
Bucholski remains free on unsecured while awaiting her preliminary hearing scheduled for April 24, 2024.
No word on the well being of Bucholski’s dog.
