San Diego
A former Santee woman who collected $144,000 in life insurance benefits after she claimed that an imaginary sister died in the 1985 Mexico City earthquake was sentenced Tuesday to four years in state prison.
Sorina Claudine Vernon, 39, a self-employed fashion designer, received the term from San Diego Municipal Judge Herbert Exarhos, who also fined her $200. Vernon pleaded no contest to two counts of grand theft and one count of attempted grand theft last month.
In her probation report, Vernon said she applied for life insurance policies for a real sister who was dying of cancer. The sister died before any policy could go in effect.
The report stated that Vernon created a fictitious sister whom she called Colette Butler in October, 1984, and took out three life insurance policies naming herself as the beneficiary. After the September, 1985, earthquake, Vernon traveled to Mexico City and identified a body as that of her sister and collected the policies’ benefits from two companies.
Dobrin said authorities have found about $90,000 of the money.
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