West Virginia Women Plead Guilty in Staged Accident Fraud Case

Two West Virginia women have agreed to plead guilty to helping stage an accident and trying to win a settlement with an insurance company.

State Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline says 37-year-old Melissa Marie Baker and her aunt, 37-year-old Traci Renae Baker, will receive suspended sentences of one to five years in state prison. Both women are from Clarksburg.

The women were indicted in September. Cline’s office says they were accused of staging an accident in Shinnston and trying to settle with Farmers and Mechanics Mutual Insurance.