VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach mother pleaded guilty to fraud after submitting false medical records for an insurance claim over metal in a potato chip bag.
Ashley Turner submitted false medical records to claim between $20,000and $50,000 after alleging her toddler ate metal found in a bag of potato chips.
WTKR requested and obtained court records outlining how Turner entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors on March 11.
If Turner remains on good behavior with supervised probation and completes 25 hours of community service, she will be found guilty of a misdemeanor for obtaining money by false pretenses after one year.
The other two charges of felony fraud will be nolle prossed meaning they are basically dismissed, but prosecutors have the right to bring the charges back at a later date if they want to.
The court ruling comes after Turner reported her toddler daughter was hurt by metal found in a bag of potato chips.
Turner then attempted to file an insurance claim for between $20,000 and $50,000. State police were notified by the insurance company, and Turner was charged with fraud for filing counterfeit medical records.
Turner's attorney said Monday he had no updated response, but previously issued a the following statement:
“Ms. Turner unfortunately had a serious lapse in judgement when handling what was originally a truthful reporting about metal shards located by her daughter in a potato chip bag. This did cause slight injury. As a concerned mother, she made a report through the appropriate channels. But when asked to provide documentation for one of two reported medical care visits, she could not provide that. The first reported visit was puffery and did not reflect an accurate timeline of events. She takes full responsibility for the false documentation she submitted and is facing the consequences of her actions. This does not take away from the proper accountability that Ms. Turner sought originally for the metal shards appearing in a food bag, which the food distributor appears to have addressed.”
Legal Analyst Sonny Stallings reviewed the case and explained the plea agreement.
"That’s not unusual for someone who doesn’t have a prior record and admits their guilt. The key is to not have any other charges for the year. She is on probation to get it reduced to a misdemeanor this tells me she didn’t have any prior record and basically giving break not to convict her of a felony," Stallings said. “You can call it puffery, the Commonwealth calls it fraud. If you inflate the damage with phony documents this is what is going to happen to you," Stallings said.
