DA Denis Dillon Announce Guilty Pleas

Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon has announced that two Plainview women have pleaded guilty to charges that they submitted numerous fraudulent claims to various candy and food companies asserting that they had broken teeth on foreign substances in their products. One woman pled guilty to Insurance Fraud and Scheme to Defraud for submitting claims that she had broken teeth on hard substances in candy, since 1992. Using various names and addresses, she collected thousands of dollars in settlements. The other woman pled guilty to Insurance Fraud for submitting a fraudulent claim to the Tootsie Roll Company and collecting over $1,000 as a settlement. Sentencing will be on Jan. 13 and 26, respectively.

According to Dillon, "These women are friends. The two submitted a large number of insurance claims involving allegations of teeth having been broken on hard objects found in candy, sweets, nuts and potato chips. The majority of these claims involved an allegedly broken cap, a chipped tooth needing extraction and a bridge. Dentists' bills or estimates were submitted to support the claims. Most of the dentists' estimates were fraudulent. In some instances, the food company's insurance carrier paid the claim. In others, the claim was determined by the company to be a scam and was not paid."

The DA gave as an example a claim filed by one of the women in November of 1992. She claimed to the M & M Mars Company that she had bitten into a Snickers candy bar and broke a cap on a hard object. In support of this claim she submitted a copy of an estimate from a Plainview dentist. A month earlier she used the same estimate from the dentist to claim she broke her cap when biting into a Tootsie Roll. She collected over $1,600 from the Tootsie Roll Company and $825 from M & M Mars.

Dillon said this woman used different names, dates of birth and addresses on claims. Other alleged fraudulent claims were filed by her involving Planters Mixed Nuts, Pillsbury's Toasted Strudel, Nestle's Sweet Success Bar and cake from the M & M Baking Company.

A third defendant's case involving another Plainview woman is still pending.