Bakersfield dental office employee arrested for failing to pay restitution in fraud scheme
For Release: August 5, 2020
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Dental office employee Karla Morales, 42, was arrested today for failing to pay restitution after being sentenced in an elaborate $46,000 insurance fraud scheme. In November 2018, Morales was sentenced to one year in jail, five years probation and ordered to pay $43,987.70 in restitution.
In June 2018, Morales was charged with 45 felonies, including insurance fraud, identity theft, forgery, and grand theft after Department of Insurance detectives discovered she had submitted 78 fraudulent dental insurance claim forms for services she or her family never received. The fraudulent claims forms contained personal identifying information, including forged and/or electronic signatures, of four different treating dentists, all of whom are Morales’ former employers.
Morales used her dental industry knowledge, gained by working for these providers, to successfully submit the fraudulent insurance claims for reimbursement. She then conspired with her husband, Raymundo Morales Jr., 47, who was also charged in June 2018, to cash and/or negotiate the reimbursement checks made payable to him as the dental insurance policy holder. The total paid in fraudulent insurance payments was $46,688.21.
Morales has been booked into the Kern County Jail and is being held without bail. The Kern County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting this case.
