Insurance money leads to arrest - Bethlehem woman accused of including herself as beneficiary

A Bethlehem woman was charged Wednesday by the Pennsylvania attorney general's office with tampering with her brother's life insurance claim to collect the bulk of his $25,000 policy when he died.

Brenda Verastegui, 53, of 1515 Johnston Drive, remains free on $50,000 unsecured bail. According to court papers, Verastegui told state investigators that her deceased brother, Francis S. Potter, was not around when their mother died and this was a way for him to "pay his share" for her funeral.

Potter was 57 when he died of natural causes on April 27. He and Verastegui both worked for Comfort Suites hotel on Third Street in south Bethlehem.

According to court papers, the alleged insurance fraud happened like this:

The day after Potter died, Verastegui asked the hotel about her brother's life insurance policy. At the time, the hotel could not locate the form naming Potter's beneficiaries. Verastegui offered to go to her brother's house and look for his copy of the form. Hotel personnel supplied her with a blank form so she would know what it looked like.

The following day, Verastegui returned to the hotel with her sister, Sandra Leimbecher of Iowa, with a form indicating that Verastegui and Leimbecher were the policy's sole beneficiaries, according to court documents.

Verastegui subsequently filed a form authorizing payment to the Connell Funeral Home in the city for $8,299.46 and providing that the remainder of the money be paid to her.

Later, a new search of Potter's personnel file showed that he had filled out a form on Feb. 22 naming his daughters, Melanie Morales of Bethlehem, and Melissa Zeigler of Washington, as the beneficiaries.

In a Nov. 22 interview with investigators from the attorney general's office, Verastegui admitted that she had forged the beneficiary form when she and Leimbecher went to Potter's home to ostensibly look for his copy. She went into Potter's bathroom to do so and Leimbecher had no knowledge of what she did, Verastegui told investigators.

Verastegui told investigators that she saw "it as a way out of paying for another funeral."

Verastegui was arraigned before District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez of Bethlehem on one count each of insurance fraud, criminal attempt to commit theft by deception and forgery. Each count is a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

She was also charged with one count of false swearing, a third-degree misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.