A Franklin Township woman is accused of adding coverage for a newly purchased sport utility vehicle to her existing insurance policy.

The only problem, authorities said, was that the vehicle had just been damaged in an accident in Butler Township.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office last week charged Edie A. Sawyer, 44, with insurance fraud and attempted theft by deception, both felonies, in the scheme to obtain coverage post accident.

Investigators said Sawyer on Nov. 9 bought a 2006 Subaru Forester in Ellwood City. She had a 30-day grace period to notify her insurer, Progressive Insurance, of the purchase, according to her policy.

But she did not contact her insurer to add the Subaru to her policy before the grace period expired.

About 1:30 p.m. Dec. 16, court documents said, she crashed the Subaru into the side of another vehicle on New Castle Road near Moraine Pointe Plaza.

The other vehicle sustained $1,088.13 in damage. The damage to Sawyer’s SUV exceeded $2,000.

The defendant provided police with information that indicated she had Progressive Insurance, an investigator said. Police did not know that the Subaru was not covered.

Sawyer, later that day and soon after the wreck, contacted her insurance agent and added coverage on the Subaru. She did not disclose information about the crash.

Investigators on Jan. 17 interviewed the defendant, who “admitted that she added the coverage after the accident had occurred, documents said.

Sawyer was arraigned on charges Feb. 15 and released on $2,500 unsecured bail. Her preliminary hearing is set this afternoon at the office of District Judge Bill O’Donnell in Slippery Rock.