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| | The Million-Dollar Examiner
By Robert Warne - December 6, 2002
A greedy claims examiner will soon trade in her business casual wardrobe for a State issued orange jumpsuit. For her second time in six months, Elisa Guillermo was arrested Dec. 5 on charges that she issued payments to phony physical therapy providers. All things considered, the million plus dollars Guillermo funned out of her two employers, Fremont Compensation Insurance Co. and Gates McDonald Co., should buy her some serious time.
Yesterday’s arrest also included Juliet Armstrong, Guillermo’s sister who assisted in the racket. Bail was set at $160,000 each because the theft totaled over $150,000.
As a claims examiner at Gates McDonald in Concord, between 1991 and 1993 Guillermo issued or caused to be issued $429,000 to J. Levy Registered Physical Therapist, a bogus company. Checks were mailed to Armstrong’s residence and other designated mail drops.
Guillermo’s successes in Concord led her across the bay to San Francisco where she worked for Fremont Compensation between 1999 and 2000. With a little more help, this time she was able to issue over $700,000 in payments to another phony physical therapy vendor.
The family affair also included spousal participation from Lorenzo Guillermo and Arthur Armstrong Jr. All face a range of charges that include grand theft, workers' compensation insurance fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and revenue and tax code violations.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the California Department of Insurance (CDI) Criminal Investigations Branch’s Fraud Division conducted the original investigation. With some spare parts left over from the San Francisco case, authorities were able to later place them with the violations that took place in Concord.
Both cases are still pending.
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