Former OC police officer charged with stealing thousands in workers' comp, faking disability

WESTMINSTER, Calif. (KABC) -- A former Westminster police officer has been charged with pretending to be disabled -- all while dancing and drinking at a music festival, skiing, and even running a 5K.

Nicole Brown faces serious prison time for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent workers' compensation payments after telling her department she was unable to work due to an injury she suffered while on duty in March 2022.

She's accused of collecting more than $600,000 tax-free, including all medical bills.

Kimberly Edds, the public information officer for the Orange County District Attorney's Office, said, "For a police officer to engage in that kind of behavior, it's absolutely disgusting."

"She suffered a small abrasion to her head. She went to the emergency room that day," Edds said. "The doctor cleared her without any restrictions on duty. She took a couple days off after that, and then told her department that she had been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury by a doctor who put her on temporary disability."

The DA's office launched an investigation after Brown was caught dancing and drinking at the Stagecoach country music festival.

"People who knew that she was on full disability witnessed her behaving in a way that was not consistent with what she was telling her department," Edds said. "She was engaged in an incredibly active lifestyle where she was running, skiing, going to Disneyland, doing all these things that she said she could not do while she was working as a police officer."

Brown's stepfather, Peter Gregory Schuman -- a licensed attorney practicing workers' compensation defense for insurance carriers -- is charged with helping his stepdaughter orchestrate the fraud.

"He was representing her at some of the meetings with the department and her case manager, where he was describing what she was prohibited from doing. She was acting like she couldn't look at a screen. She was in a dark room. Meanwhile, she was pursuing a master's in organizational leadership, where it was completely online," she said.

Brown is now charged with 15 felonies, including making a fraudulent statement to obtain compensation and making fraudulent insurance benefit claims.

Her stepfather is also charged with conspiring and soliciting someone in an unlawful act.

If convicted, Schuman faces up to eight years behind bars. For Brown, if she's found guilty, she faces up to 22 years in prison.