A judge sentenced a Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., woman to three years in state prison for refusing to pay $75,000 in restitution on a 2007 insurance fraud and grand theft conviction stemming from a phony accident claim.
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, Sheila Burke was remanded to prison by Superior Court Judge Judith Champagne after roughly 20 probation violation hearings dating back to Aug. 26, 2007, when she was sentenced to one year in county jail and 5 years of probation and ordered to pay restitution to APM Terminals.(WCxKit)
But Burke refused to comply with the restitution order, despite owning several properties and still being employed. A Rancho Palos Verdes property she owns was valued at $218,000, according to Deputy District Attorney Anthony Colannino who prosecuted the case.
At a recent hearing, Judge Champagne provided Burke with a final opportunity to show progress toward paying the restitution, said Colannino of the District Attorney’s Healthcare Fraud Division.
But during another hearing, Judge Champagne found Burke had refused to make any meaningful attempt to pay restitution and did not comply with orders to produce documentation about her assets.
In 2007, a jury found Burke guilty on two counts of insurance fraud and one count of grand theft stemming from insurance claims she filed. Burke claimed that in November 2006, while a long shore worker, she was injured in a collision involving her pickup truck and a tractor-trailer.(WCxKit)
Since her conviction the only meaningful income obtained toward paying the restitution was roughly $17,000 in California income tax refunds that were impounded by the state.
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