A California cop attended a music festival, went skiing, and played golf, all while she was claiming full disability benefits, authorities say.
Nicole Brown, 39, a former officer with the Westminster Police Department, is charged with 15 felonies for receiving over $600,000 in fraudulent workers’ compensation payments.
During her time on “total disability,” Brown was spotted “dancing and drinking at the Stagecoach Music Festival,” while also taking part in two 5k runs and spending time at a ski resort,” according to the Orange County District Attorney.
The popular music festival was attended by over 75,000 people in temperatures that soared past 100 degrees, thus “making conditions challenging for someone who claimed to suffer from 'headaches, dizziness, [and] sensitivity to light and noise,” according to the complaint.
Investigators say that Brown ran two 5K races, went snowboarding and skiing in Big Bear and Mammoth resorts, visited Disneyland, took online courses with a local university, played golf, and attended baseball games while on disability leave.
She managed to pocket a sum over $600,000, including her full salary, tax-free, along with medical expenses for her injuries.
Brown could be imprisoned for up to 22 years if convicted of all 15 counts.
She started receiving payments following a head injury she claimed to have suffered on March 21, 2022, while she was attempting to arrest and handcuff an uncooperative suspect.
Brown claimed to have suffered a minor abrasion to the forehead and informed her watch commander of headaches and dizziness symptoms. An ER doctor who examined her that same day released her back to work without any issue. Three days after her suspected injury, Brown called in sick to work.
Thereafter, she was diagnosed with severe concussion syndrome and was taken off work by the doctor and placed on Total Temporary Disability.
If an officer is injured on the job, they continue to receive their full salary for up to a year. After that, TTD benefits drop to two-thirds of their average weekly wage. These benefits can stretch over two years within five years.
Her alleged crimes include nine counts of making a fraudulent statement to obtain compensation, six counts of making a fraudulent insurance benefit claim, and one felony enhancement of committing an aggravated while collar crime over $100,000.
Three days after she allegedly attended the Stagecoach Music Festival in the Coachella Valley, Brown “attended an interactive Zoom meeting to discuss what duties she could perform as a police officer,” where she claimed “she was unable to look at the screen.”
Her stepfather, Peter Gregory Schuman, 57, a lawyer from Buena Park, attended the meeting and advocated for Brown. After the meeting with Schuman, Brown was admitted to an inpatient center for individuals who have a traumatic brain injury, the Orange County District Attorney said.
He has also been charged with one felony count of making a fraudulent insurance benefit claim and one felony count of assisting, abetting, conspiring with, and soliciting a person in an unlawful act.
If convicted on all counts, Schuman faces a maximum sentence of eight years and may also be disciplined by the State Bar of California.
