Lower Burrell police filed felony charges against a woman and her daughter accused of filing a false hit-and-run claim for a vehicle to collect the insurance.
Sharon L. Zaborowski, 55, of the 1400 block of Babcock Boulevard in Shaler was charged Dec. 19 with three counts of filing a fraudulent insurance claim and a count of theft by deception, which are all felonies, along with a misdemeanor count of making false reports.
She was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond to await a Jan. 16 preliminary hearing before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec.
Police also charged Nicole Lynn Zaborowski, 34, of the 300 block of Claremont Drive in Lower Burrell with two felony counts of filing a false insurance claim and a misdemeanor count of making false reports.
She was released from custody after posting a $500 cash bond, which is 10% of the $5,000 bail set at her arraignment. Her preliminary hearing also is scheduled before Peck Yakopec on Jan. 16.
Police wrote in a criminal complaint that Nicole Zaborowski called police to report that her mother was driving a GMC Arcadia SUV on Oct. 26 when she was rear-ended by pickup as she turned off Route 56 onto Claremont Drive.
But police say video from surveillance cameras in the area show that the crash never happened and that Nicole Zaborowski was the only person in the SUV at the time she said the incident occurred, the complaint said.
Police said the video shows Nicole Zaborowski driving the SUV east along Leechburg Road toward her home on Claremont Drive shortly before 4 p.m., and there is no damage visible on the vehicle.
About an hour later, police say, the SUV was recorded by video leaving Claremont Drive with damage on the rear passenger side between the license plate and turn signal, the complaint said.
Police said they were notified by an investigator from Nationwide Insurance on Nov. 3 that during an interview with Sharon Zaborowski about the crash she asked that the audio recording be terminated when questions were raised about the timeline of the incident.
The investigator told police Zaborowski then asked to reschedule the interview but when he called back she told him to withdraw her claim, the complaint said.
A police detective who interviewed Sharon Zaborowski on Nov. 27 said she admitted her daughter was driving the vehicle and there wasn’t a crash after he told her those claims were not supported by the video evidence.
Tony LaRussa is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tony by email at tlarussa@triblive.com or via Twitter .
