Oct 26, 2015

State Charges Couple With Insurance Fraud Over $15K Engagement Ring

A Cantonment man and his former fiancee have been charged with insurance fraud by the state for alleged false claims over a custom-made engagement ring.



Zian Scott Snyder, 29, and Alicia Maria Hill, 26, were charged with scheme to defraud, insurance fraud, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud by the  Florida Division of Insurance Fraud. Both were released from the Escambia County Jail on $15,000 bond each. Snyder was also charged with petit theft and burglary by Pensacola Police.

According to arrest affidavit, the couple filed a false claim on a $15,000 ring  that Hill claimed she lost swimming in the Gulf and was also recorded claiming she lost the ring on a boat in the Gulf.

Four days after filing the claim with an insurance company, Hill entered the Ft. Walton Beach Marks and Morgan Jewelry store to have the ring repaired, a different store location that where the ring was purchased on a finance plan. The custom-made ring was identified by photographs taken at the Ft. Walton Beach store.

About the time the insurance claim was made, a jewelry store manager told authorities she witnesses the ring for sale on Craig's List, and she was positive it was the ring in question because she had custom made the ring herself. She said the couple changed their story about the ring being stolen, later saying it had been ate by a dog and later recovered.

The couple later ended their relationship.  Snyder then burglarized Hill's home, stealing back the ring, according to Pensacola Police.

About a month later, Hill called the insurance company to report that the ring had been recovered, with the insurance company telling her that the ring or the check must be returned. Three days later, according to investigators, she reported that it was actually a different ring.

The insurance company told state investigators that neither the ring or insurance proceeds were ever returned.

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