Shaw Capital Management Scam Information Prevention

A judge issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for aBartlett woman who had tried to collect on an insurance policy by claiming her husband was an FBI agent killed in the line of duty.
Bridgette Buckner, 50, failed to appear at her sentencing hearing in DuPage County court, where earlier this summer she had pleaded guilty to insurance fraud.
In court Tuesday, Judge John Kinsella asked Buckner attorney Matthew Hachigian where his client was.
“I wish I could tell you, your honor,” Hachigian replied.
Kinsella issued a no-bond warrant for Buckner, meaning that she will be held without bail should authorities find her.
Buckner also failed to appear in Cook County court last week to face a 14-count indictment for identity theft brought by the Illinois Attorney General’s office. Assistant Attorney General Anshuman Vaidya said the Cook indictments allege Buckner used fake identities to charge goods and services.
In DuPage, Buckner was charged after she submitted a fake death certificate for her husband in September 2008 in an attempt to obtain $15,000 in workplace insurance benefits, just five months after collecting on the same policy for the death of her child.
At the time, Buckner worked at Hallmark Services, a health insurance administrator that is part of the Blue Cross system. The two claims aroused the suspicions of corporate security officials, who questioned Buckner, who, in turn, told the story of her FBI agent husband being shot to death.
Unfortunately for Buckner, the two investigators were themselves former FBI agents.
“If somebody had been killed in the line of duty, we’d know about it,” said Tom Bourgeois, one of the security officials who came to testify at the sentencing hearing.
When Bourgeois and fellow investigator Diane Rivers delved into Buckner’s story, it quickly came apart. The certificate Buckner had filed to collect on the death of her “daughter” was rife with misspellings, Rivers said. The death certificate for the husband also looked bogus.
“It was quite obviously a fabrication,” Bourgeois said.
Both investigators said they did not believe Buckner’s husband, who is reportedly estranged from his wife, was part of the plot. Rivers said she’s not certain whether Buckner actually has any children.
In addition to the two death claims, Buckner’s six-month tenure at Hallmark included a bereavement leave for the death of another relative and an injury leave for a workplace fall, Rivers said. And the investigators think she falsified her college records to land the position.
“There’s no doubt that when she came to work for us, she came to work to scam us,” Rivers said.
Buckner submitted false death insurance claims at a previous employer, an international banking firm, the investigators said.
“She’s incredibly believable – she seems like a nice, sweet lady,” Bourgeois said. “That’s what gets her through the door.”
Although Buckner’s absence stymied Tuesday’s sentencing, it won’t postpone it indefinitely. She may still be sentenced in absentia, DuPage County Assistant State’s Atty. Helen Kapas said. [email protected] » Shaw Capital Management Scam Information Prevention