A former Westminster police officer claimed over $600,000 in workers’ compensation for a head injury that allegedly prevented her from working, but meanwhile was hitting the slopes at Mammoth Mountain, visiting Disneyland and dancing at Stagecoach, prosecutors allege.
Nicole Brown, 39, of Riverside was charged with 15 felonies related to workers’ compensation insurance fraud, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. If convicted of all charges, she faces up to 22 years in prison. She could also lose pension credits she accrued after the date the felony was committed if she’s convicted.
Prosecutors said Brown suffered a minor cut to her forehead while attempting to handcuff an uncooperative suspect in March 2022. An emergency room doctor released her to work without any restrictions the same day.
But Brown did not return to work for more than a year.
Several days after the injury, she was was diagnosed with severe concussion syndrome and placed on total temporary disability leave, prosecutors said.
“Ms. Brown is not guilty of this what the prosecution has alleged,” her attorney, Brian Gurwitz, told The Times. “She was seriously injured on duty and intends to fight these allegations.”
Brown is accused of fraudulently collecting more than $600,000 from the city while out on leave, which included her full salary — tax-free — and medical expenses.
Prosecutors allege her stepfather, 57-year-old Peter Gregory Schuman, worked with Brown to orchestrate the fraudulent workers’ compensation scheme. Schuman is a Buena Park-based attorney who practices workers’ compensation defense on behalf of insurance companies, prosecutors said.
He is in the process of obtaining legal representation, Gurwitz said. Schuman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During her time on disability, Brown said she was unable to work due to headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light and noise, problems processing thoughts and words and an inability to work on a screen, prosecutors said.
However, authorities allege that in April 2023, she was seen dancing and drinking at the Stagecoach Music Festival — alongside more than 75,000 festival attendees, with loud music and bright lights and temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.
Her presence at the festival was reported to the Westminster Police Department, which referred the case to the district attorney’s office for investigation.
The D.A.’s office says it then discovered that, while on leave, Brown allegedly went snowboarding or skiing at Mammoth Mountain and Big Bear, ran two 5K races, went to three soccer conferences, visited Disneyland, played golf and took online courses with a local university.
Three days after prosecutors say she was at Stagecoach, Brown had a Zoom meeting to discuss what duties she could perform as a police officer.
During the meeting, Brown was sitting in a dark room and claimed she could not look at the screen, prosecutors said. Schuman did all of the talking and stated she was unable to do paperwork and may not be able to do phone calls. After the meeting, Brown was admitted to an in-patient center for traumatic brain injuries, prosecutors said.
She has been charged with nine counts of making a fraudulent statement to obtain compensation, six counts of making a fraudulent insurance benefit claim and one enhancement of committing an aggravated white collar crime over $100,000, all felonies. Her stepfather has been charged with one felony count of making a fraudulent insurance benefit claim and one felony count of assisting, abetting, conspiring with and soliciting a person in unlawful act, according to court records.
Brown attended the police academy at Rio Hondo College and was sworn in as a Westminster Police Officer in February 2019, according to reporting by Behind the Badge. During her time at the department, she worked as a homeless liaison officer helping connect people experiencing homelessness to resources, the outlet reported.
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