(Stillwater, Okla.) — A crime victim has been accused of conveying an altered or counterfeited billing statement and estimate of needed services from the Perkins Family Dental Clinic — in an alleged attempt to receive money from the state Crime Victims’ Compensation Program that she would not otherwise be entitled to.
Sue Ellen Hutchinson, 50, of Stillwater, who remains free on $5,000 bond pending a May 22 court appearance, could be given a seven-year prison term if convicted of the felony charge, court records show.
Perkins Police Investigator Charles Danker wrote in an affidavit that on March 26 he was asked by Perkins Police Chief Bob Ernst to meet with Payne County District Attorney Tom Lee regarding a forgery that occurred in Perkins.
The district attorney said that Hutchinson, a crime victim, “had requested assistance from the Crime Victims Center at Payne County and had filled out the appropriate forms to do this,” the affidavit said.
Hutchinson “claimed that the assault did a lot of dental damage,” the affidavit said.
The district attorney “informed me that part of the process involved Sue providing an estimate of how much dental work needed to be done,” the Perkins police investigator wrote in his affidavit.
“Sue provided an estimate from Perkins Family Clinic in Perkins, Oklahoma, stating the total amount of dental work needing to be done is $8,235,” the affidavit said.
“This information was sent to the Oklahoma District Attorneys’ Council Crime Victims Compensation Program in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Sue was approved for $6,588,” the affidavit said.
The district attorney said that “when the Perkins Family Clinic received a letter from the Crime Victims Compensation Program stating that Sue Hutchinson was approved for $6,588 worth of dental work, an employee thought something didn’t seem right and found that the form had been altered,” the affidavit alleged.
Hutchinson, who was the victim of a crime on May 4, 2013, “had not been seen as a dental patient at Perkins Family Clinic since May 10, 2010, and also the dentist who signed and initialed the record had not been employed at Perkins Family Clinic in two years,” the affidavit alleged.
Originally, Hutchinson had been examined on Feb. 23, 2010, but “on the edited document, the exam date had been erased with what appear to be white-out and the form was altered with a replacement date of Oct. 22, 2013,” the affidavit alleged.
“On the original exam document, in the dentist note to patient, there was an area that appeared the dentist made reference to tooth numbers and possibly a follow-up visit,” for May 10, 2010,” the affidavit alleged.
“The edited exam document had that area erased with what appeared to be white-out and left blank,” the affidavit alleged.
“On the original exam document, there were no prices with the procedures that needed to be done. On the edited exam document, there were prices next to possible work that needed to be done that totaled $8,235,” the affidavit alleged.
“On the original exam document, there is nothing written in the bottom left corner of page 2. On the edited exam document, there was writing that didn’t match any of the writing in the rest of the document that stated the estimate,” was from a dentist at the Perkins Family Clinic, the affidavit alleged.
The employee said, “Perkins Family Clinic doesn’t put prices with anything on an estimate and that Perkins Family Clinic has limited resources for dental procedures and anywhere on Perkins Family Clinic it states not covered by PFC, that means Perkins Family Clinic can’t do that procedure,” the affidavit said.
The employee said “Sue hadn’t been seen at Perkins Family Clinic since 2010,” and the dentist listed “hasn’t worked at Perkins Family Clinic for at least two years and was gone prior to 2013,” the affidavit alleged.
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