Cops: Beauty pageant contestant lied to get workers' compensation

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Officials say a 22-year-old beauty pageant contestant has been arrested in California after being caught on video walking comfortably in high heels while collecting workers' compensation benefits for a broken toe.

The state Department of Insurance said Tuesday that Shawna Lynn Palmer, of Riverside, claimed she fractured a toe while working at a supermarket.

A doctor issued her crutches and an orthopedic shoe. She also collected workers' comp. However, the agency says in a release that Palmer was later videotaped walking with no discomfort while competing to become Miss Toyota at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

A neighbor told CBS Los Angeles that she never saw Palmer using the prescribed shoe or crutches.

Jail records show Palmer was arrested Friday in Riverside on three felony counts of defrauding an insurance company.

"She certainly possessed beauty and bravado, but certainly not too much brains," Deputy Insurance Commissioner Byron Tucker told the station.

Officials said Palmer visited her doctor multiple times after reporting the incident on March 10, allegedly saying she could not put any weight on her foot or wear any type of shoe, according to CBS Los Angeles.

"She lied to her employer, she lied to her doctor, she lied to a lot of people," Tucker said. "She eventually got arrested and busted for this."

Palmer is currently free on $5,000 bail. Efforts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful. In convicted, she faces up to one year in county jail, three years of probation and $24,000 owed in restitution.