A Santa Clarita bride was sentenced to five years in jail after trying to use her nuptials to scam wedding-planning website The Knot out of $20,000 with false insurance claims, officials said Monday.
Vermyttya Miller of Santa Clarita was able to get $10,000 out of the company, but she’ll have to pay that back, along with another $12,500 to cover the cost of investigating her fraud, the state Department of Insurance said in a news release.
State officials gave Miller’s age as 37, but inmate records show she’s 38.
The scheme began with Miller using The Knot to book the Galleria Ballroom in Glendale as a reception site in October 2016, investigators said.
The venue came with a $10,000 event cancellation or postponement insurance policy.
Shortly after securing the space, Miller filed a claim under the policy, stating she had tripped on her wedding dress and was hurt so severely that she had to cancel the reception.
Miller turned over medical documents to support her claim, and she was given a $10,000 check by the end of the month, officials said.
At that point, The Knot and its insurer did not suspect the claim was fake. But their suspicions were raised weeks later when Miller reported her $10,000 check was stolen.
The bride gave the company a police report she said she filed with the Vallejo Police Department, but investigators determined the document was doctored from an unrelated incident that occurred years earlier.
The ensuing investigation led authorities to conclude that Miller’s medical reports were also bogus.
She eventually pleaded no contest to one count of felony insurance fraud, officials said.
Booking records indicate Miller had been out of custody until her sentencing last Wednesday, Dec. 4. It’s unclear when she was originally charged, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office — which prosecuted the case — could not immediately be reached for comment.
An IMDB page the Department of Insurance says belongs to Miller indicates she works as an actress under the name Vermyttya Erahn. Booking records give Erahn as Miller’s middle name.
Credits on the page include the role of Hattie in “A Madea Family Funeral.” But that role was actually played by Patrice Lovely.