Local actress sentenced to 5 years for ‘Bride Fraud’

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Santa Clarita actress Vermyttya Miller was sentenced Monday to five years in county jail and ordered to pay $22,500 in restitution after pleading no contest to one count of felony insurance fraud for a wedding fraud scheme she concocted to rip off The Knot — not once, but twice.

In October 2016, Miller, 37, booked a wedding reception through The Knot website for the Galleria Ballroom in Glendale, which came with a $10,000 event cancellation/postponement insurance policy, according to a news release issued Monday by the California Department of Insurance.

Soon after booking the reception, Miller claimed she tripped on her wedding dress and was injured so severely that she had to cancel the wedding reception and filed an insurance claim under the $10,000 policy, according to department officials.

To support her cancellation claim, Miller provided medical reports documenting her injuries, the news release said.

On Oct. 31, 2016, the insurer delivered a $10,000 check to Miller. 

Then, Miller e-mailed The Knot’s insurer on Dec. 4, 2016, to report her $10,000 check was stolen and provided a copy of a police report she allegedly filed with the Vallejo Police Department in Northern California. 

According to the Insurance Department, evidence revealed Miller actually doctored a previously submitted police report for a different incident that occurred years earlier. 

“Miller’s trail of fraudulent claims led straight to a five-year jail sentence after department detectives unraveled her scheme,” Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara was quoted as saying in the news release.

“Insurance fraud is a felony with serious penalties and consequences. We are committed to uncovering fraud and working with prosecutors to bring criminals to justice,” Lara said.

Miller reported to the insurer that her $10,000 claim check was stolen and the Vallejo Police Department was investigating the theft. 

Miller provided the insurer with investigative details she said the Vallejo Police Department reported to her.

The insurer, Tokio Marine, referred the claim to the Department of Insurance for investigation. 

Detectives uncovered evidence that Miller falsified the medical reports of her injury, which she used to file the original claim.

Detectives also found Miller doctored the Vallejo Police report she used to substantiate her claim that the $10,000 check was stolen.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case and Miller pleaded no contest to one count of felony insurance fraud and was ordered to pay restitution for the $10,000 she received and an additional $12,500 for investigative costs.

Miller was remanded to the custody of the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, where she is serving her five-year sentence.

Miller has appeared in several film and TV productions including the movie “Black and Blue” released in October, starring Naomie Harris, and in the 2017 movie “August Falls,” starring Fairuza Balk.

The Knot is an online digital wedding-planning site that helps and promotes a couple’s wedding experience.

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On Twitter: @jamesarthurholt

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