BREVARD COUNTY, Fla.,None — Two women are facing charges after one claimed to fall at a Brevard County Publix and then tried to sue. However, video from the Publix grocery store shows she clearly didn't fall; she simply laid down on the floor.
SURVEILLANCE SHOWS 'FALL': Raw Video | Images CRIME REPORTS: Map Crimes In Your Neighborhood
Investigators said the staged fall is part of a growing trend in Brevard County; six people have been arrested in just the last two months in the county for faking falls at supermarkets and gas stations.
In this case, one of the women tried to sue for $300,000. The second woman is facing charges, because she was an accomplice and tried to hide the other woman with her shopping cart.
Investigators are surprised that a 72-year-old and a 68-year-old woman would attempt to fake the fall. The elderly woman's care giver was allegedly in on the plan.
Johnella Howard, 72, and Susan Snow, 68, were arrested after agents saw the incriminating video (video | images). Investigators from the Division of Insurance Fraud said the two women staged a slip and fall at a Publix last December.
Slip and fall blurby pic 081910 'FALL' ON SURVEILLANCE: Video | Images In the video, Howard moves her foot back and forth on the ground where there appears to be a spill of some kind, and then she gets on her hands and knees. She gets in a sitting position and then fixes her hair before she lies down. While she is doing that, her caregiver, Snow, watches her and then pushes the shopping cart down the aisle and searches for help. Once rescue crews get to the Merritt Island Publix, they take Howard away.
Records show that, two weeks later, the women faxed a later to Publix demanding $300,000 in cash due to injuries. Also, one of the women hand-delivered photos to the store.
WFTV tried to talk to the women at their condo, but they were not home. People who also live in the 55-plus community said the allegations do not surprise them.
"They're nuts. I don't know how they can get away with it, unless they can really prove it they fell," neighbor Tina Margadonna said.
Margadonna says the women live together; Snow is Howard's caregiver and the two seem to be accident-prone.
"Every time you see their car there's a different bang. One here, one there. the next time you see them it's in the back," Margadonna said.
The two women now face up to 35 years in prison.
WFTV
