By Ray King
A Pine Bluff Police officer was arrested Monday accused of insurance fraud and filing a false police report, both Class D felonies.
Sydney Dowd, 27, was booked into the adult detention center at 2:24 p.m. and bonded out a minute late, according to the jail intake log.
Dowd was arrested following an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Arkansas Insurance Department.
Dowd has worked for the department since Oct. 22, 2018 and is assigned to the Patrol Division and SWAT. She was placed on administrative leave with pay pending further investigation.
Investigator James Kulesa with the insurance department said in a probable cause affidavit that on April 9, there was a flood at Henslee Heights Apartments where Down lived in Apartment L15. The apartment manager reported that she received an emergency call from Apartment L14 about flooding and believed the flood to have started in Apartment L24.
The manager wanted to enter Dowd’s apartment to check for water damage and attempted to contact Down at 11:32 a.m. but was unable to do so. The manager then entered Dowd’s apartment and found water damage and was able to reach Dowd at 12:05 p.m. to inform her of the damage.
Later that same day, Dowd initiated renter’s insurance policy for the apartment with Allstate Insurance, after the apartment complex had notified her of the damage. The policy had personal property limits of $50,000 and on April 12, Dowd filed a claim with Allstate under the renter’s policy, claiming water damage. Dowd claimed the damage occurred on April 11 at 1:30 a.m. an also filed a police report alleging the damage occurred April 11.
The affidavit said a representative took a recorded statement from Dowd on April 13 and she again said the damage occurred April 11 at 1:30 a.m. She also said several items in the apartment were damaged. Dowd gave a false date of loss, knowing the damage had occurred to her apartment before she took out the renter’s policy.
The claim was denied, and she is not owed restitution.
