BOSTON —
A Mississippi woman is accused of stealing nearly $29,000 and the identities of four victims of the devastating 2018 Merrimack Valley gas explosions while she worked as an insurance adjuster, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
Lashaunda Studaway was arraigned Thursday in Essex Superior count on four counts of identity fraud and two counts of larceny over $1,200.
Studaway worked as an insurance adjuster on behalf of Columbia Gas between October 2018 and December 2018. In that role, she was responsible for handling the financial claims from people impacted by gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley that devastated the region in September 2018, resulting in thousands of dollars in property damage and leaving thousands of people and businesses without heat and hot water in the winter months.
According to Healey's office, Studaway stole $28,971 and the identities of four claimants impacted by the explosions by dispersing prepaid debit cards, which were supposed to go to claimants, to herself. Studaway would either submit false claims under a real claimant's file or create a file using a fictitious person's name, prosecutors said.
Studaway is due back in court on Dec. 16 for a pretrial hearing.
In July 2019, Columbia Gas and its parent company, NiSource, Inc., agreed to pay $143 million to the thousands of Merrimack Valley residents and businesses impacted by the explosions to settle a class action lawsuit. That agreement came two months after the...
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