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Valley woman faces $500K medical bill after identity stolen, MCSO says ex-husband gave suspect the information

12News spoke exclusively with the real Jennifer O'Connor who said she received a bill for more than $200,000

PHOENIX — A woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of using a person's identity to charge up to $500,000 in medical services, officials said. 

Shannon Smith, 47, is facing charges of fraud, theft and criminal impersonation after she allegedly underwent medical care under another person's name, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. 

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Una mujer del Valle enfrenta una factura médica de $500,000 después de que le robaron su identidad, al parecer el exmarido proporcionó su información

Court records show a Jennifer O'Connor told MCSO in November 2023 she had gotten a $26,500 bill from Banner Health for medical care she never received. O'Connor reported getting bills from other Valley hospitals and was notified by the state that someone using her name had tried to sign up for Arizona's Medicaid system.

“I’m still getting bills," O'Connor said. "I don’t think this is ever going away.”

The latest bill that made it to O'Connor's door was a $300 emergency room visit delivered to her on Friday.

That's relatively small to the other invoices O'Connor received. At one point she said, there was a more than $200,000 bill from Honor Health for a two-night hospital stay.

“She racked up quite a bit of money,” O'Connor said. "It was crazy."

O'Connor said she has fought every bill that's made it her way and hasn't paid any of it. However, since she works at one of the Valley hospitals O'Connor said they started to take money out of her paycheck for about a year before she learned of the situation and notified them.

"They gave the money back once they learned of the mistake," she said.

After O'Connor contacted MCSO, investigators additionally discovered that O'Connor also had a misdemeanor warrant out for her arrest on a trespassing charge in Phoenix. MCSO reviewed the body-worn camera footage from the trespassing incident and quickly concluded that the woman arrested by Phoenix police was not O'Connor.

The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System supplied investigators with a phone number used by the person attempting to file an application with the victim's name and that number was traced to O'Connor's ex-husband, court records show. 

"Our suspect, Shannon Smith, dated the ex-husband of the victim, and that's how the information was shared," said Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez with MCSO.

“I wouldn’t think that my ex-husband would have done that with her," O'Connor said. "Shame on them both.”

At this time the ex-husband is not facing any charges but Enriquez said that could happen in the future.

In the previous incidents involving Smith, when she was in process of being taken into custody Enriquez said Smith would fake a medical emergency.

"Therefore law enforcement, obviously is going to take precaution as always, and transport this individual to the hospital," Enriquez said. "Once she was there, she would receive some medical treatment, but she would be released the same day, maybe a couple hours later, but just kept racking up these medical expenses under the victim's name."

MCSO said Smith allegedly admitted to using the victim's identity to receive medical care. The suspect is also accused of giving the victim's identity to police officers in Phoenix and Peoria.

While relieved the person believed to be responsible for creating so much frustration in her life, O'Connor worries about the long lasting impact this will have on her life.

“What scares me is they got her blood type in my medical record now so if anything, God forbid, happens to me they give me the wrong blood, I’m dead," O'Connor said.

UP TO SPEED

What is the Valley?:

“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest. 

The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:

  • Mesa
  • Chandler
  • Scottsdale
  • Tempe
  • Glendale
  • Surprise
  • Peoria
  • Gilbert
  • El Mirage
  • Avondale
  • Litchfield Park
  • Goodyear
  • Buckeye

Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.

The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.

How big is Maricopa County?

Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.

The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).

One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.

The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.

The county was named after the Maricopa, or Piipaash, Native American Tribe.

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