It took only 15 minutes inside a Leon County courtroom Wednesday to bring 18 years of mystery surrounding the disappearance of Mike Williams to finality.

Good morning, class, and welcome to Committing Fraud 101, a course where we will teach you the finer points and nuances for committing workers’ compensation fraud.

As an attorney with more than 20 years of litigation experience, several themes have recurred over that time. And while we are bound to see these themes again in the future, we can take steps to control them.

When investigators met her at a Las Vegas-area Starbucks last year, they recalled Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Lt. Mandy Henderson walking slowly and gingerly, leaning on her husband’s arm to steady herself. In the middle of their conversation, she even reportedly stopped to lie down on a bench after complaining of deep pain.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the case of a politically connected Buckingham woman accused nearly four years ago of a $20 million insurance fraud scheme involving a fire that heavily damaged her family’s million-dollar Stony Hill Road mansion.

Unique uses of technology as evidence, which is a growing part of court cases, has earned a local prosecutor national recognition for convictions in two notable area cases.

A Vero Beach man was charged with insurance fraud after deputies said he filed a fraudulent worker’s compensation claim worth more than $100,000 following a crash in June.

A Galveston attorney is facing felony charges of insurance fraud, barratry, and money laundering related to several fraudulent hail claim lawsuits.

While most property/casualty insurance claims are legitimate, the National Insurance Crime Bureau says studies indicate that 10 percent or more of all claims are fraudulent. Workers compensation insurance fraud is not only illegal, but the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud says it also costs businesses billions of dollars each year and can lead to higher insurance premiums for policyholders.

Ron Wells, a developer and architect whose decadeslong work in Spokane includes renovations of numerous historic buildings, was indicted Wednesday in federal court for allegedly staging a car crash in an attempt to defraud insurance companies.

A 56-year-old chiropractor has pleaded guilty for his role in a massive workers’ compensation insurance fraud and conspiracy scheme, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced today.

A woman convicted of setting fire to her Kane home in 2014 has been sentenced to state prison. Holly Lynn Gausman, 44, of Grampian in Clearfield County was sentenced to serve between 27 months and 84 months in state prison.

With a plot that echoes a well-known Hollywood masterpiece, a trial began Tuesday for a Florida woman accused of helping orchestrate the death of her husband in order to secure a massive insurance payout.

Firefighters die in a burning building. … A mother poisons her infant for life insurance. … A sober home plies addicts with drugs for bogus rehab claims. Welcome to the Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame, home of America’s nine most-brazen insurance scammers of last year.

An office manager for a medical practice was convicted Thursday for a workers’ compensation kickback scheme that defrauded insurance companies of more than $22 million, the San Diego District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.