If you took Kelly Klein’s word for it, you’d think hers was the most accident-prone family in the world: In less than three years, Klein, a 47-year-old mother of two from Kelso, filed 96 claims from eight separate chance events. A sample of Klein’s misery includes her husband losing his foot after having it crushed by a tractor, her son being severely burned in a fireworks explosion and car wreck that broke her daughter’s femur and forced her husband — poor, unfortunate bastard that he is — into a wheelchair.With that laundry list of maladies, you’d think the Kleins were the Griswolds come to life. Or just con artists.Turns out, it’s the latter.Yesterday, Klein plead guilty to attempted insurance fraud after collecting more than $200,000 for dozens of bogus medical claims. She was apparently a fastidious crook.Investigators say Klein submitted forged receipts, medical records and police accident logs to back up her claims. But it’s hard not to notice when someone who’s only supposed to have one foot still has a pair.Checks with doctors’ offices and hospitals revealed that Klein’s family members had either never been patients there, or hadn’t been seen for the sorts of major medical problems she claimed. Including the prosthetic foot she tried to scam her insurance company into paying for.Klein was given a suspended sentence of 30 days in a Cowlitz County court. She also has to repay the money she stole from the insurance companies. Here’s hoping all her days going forward are a little luckier.
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