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Lori Prichard reportingA Salt Lake man finds himself in jail tonight and he faces four felony counts because, authorities say, he lied on insurance forms.
According to court papers, Matthew Wetherford left his first wife to marry another. The problem is, in the process, he never got a divorce, and that got him in a whole lot of trouble.
Wetherford sits in the Salt Lake County jail tonight, charged with two felony counts of communications fraud, one count of false insurance claim and one count of bigamy.
Joe Christensen, director of the Department of Insurance Fraud, said, "This came to our attention from Wanda, his wife, who he married in 2002. They had become estranged and suddenly she noticed that her medical bills weren't being paid by her medical provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield."
According to the probable cause statement, Wanda Wetherford, Matthew's first wife, blamed the insurance company. She had no idea why her husband's insurer wasn't paying up.
Christensen said, "She contacted us. We looked into this and found out that it wasn't a problem with the insurance company."
No, in fact, according to fraud investigators, it was her husband who was the problem. Though the two were estranged, they were never divorced.
"Right, they weren't, as he had married another woman here in Salt Lake County. He had indicated on the marriage license it was his first marriage," Christensen said.
That's why Wanda wasn't getting her medical bills paid. Matthew Wetherford had allegedly told his insurer that he'd gotten a divorce and listed his new wife as a dependent on the policy.
"This is a crime that could have easily been rectified had he been honest and gone through the normal channels, legally, to take care of the situation," Christensen said.
So Wetherford sits in the Salt Lake County jail tonight on a $100,000 bond. It's so high because authorities say he's now making threats against his first wife.
