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First Posted: 11/13/2014

KINGSTON — A Wilkes-Barre woman serving a state prison sentence was charged Thursday with cheating an insurance company for injuries she sustained in a car crash in 2013.

Devin Rae Makarewicz, 36, of McLean Street, claimed she suffered neck and back injuries in a two vehicle crash on Wood Street, Wilkes-Barre.

An investigation allegedly revealed Makarewicz was not in any of the cars and not involved in the wreck.

Makarewicz was charged by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Task Force with insurance fraud and providing false or incomplete information on an insurance claim. She was arraigned via video from the State Correctional Institution at Muncy by District Judge Paul Roberts, who set bail at $5,000.

It is the second time Makarewicz has been charged with fraud.

Makarewicz was charged by the state Office of Inspector General in 2012 with providing false information about her employment while receiving $6,038 in public assistance funds in 2010, court records say.

According to the latest criminal complaint:

Wilkes-Barre police investigated a two car crash that involved Jessica Bielecki, who rear ended another vehicle on Wood Street on Jan. 29, 2013. Bielecki contacted Progressive Insurance to initiate a claim indicating Makarewicz was a passenger in her car.

Makarewicz contacted Progressive on Jan. 30, 2013, indicating she was a passenger in Bielecki’s car and had suffered injuries to her neck, back and entire body, the complaint says.

Progressive Insurance paid Makarewicz’s bills she submitted totaling $1,334, which included medical and physical therapy.

Bielecki later admitted Makarewicz was not in her car when she rear-ended another vehicle, according to the complaint.

Court records say Makarewicz was sentenced by Luzerne County Judge David Lupas on Dec. 23, 2013, to 18 months to four years in prison for cheating the state welfare system and returning a stolen item for cash at a department store in Hazle Township.

Makarewicz was sentenced by Lupas on July 18 to 15 months to 30 months for attempting to pass fraudulent prescriptions at pharmacies in Hanover Township and Wilkes-Barre, and leaving the scene of a car crash on Coal Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Bielecki later told investigators she was threatened to tell Progressive Insurance that Makarewicz was a passenger.

The scheme to defraud the state welfare program was part of a sentence imposed by Luzerne County David W. Lupas in December 2013, that involved