“Real Housewives of Potomac” star Wendy Osefo and her husband have been charged in Carroll County with lying about a burglary at their home to defraud insurance companies, according to court records.

Osefo and her husband, Edward “Eddie” Osefo, were indicted by a Carroll County grand jury on Thursday and charged with seven counts of insurance fraud, eight counts of conspiracy insurance fraud and one count of making a false statement to a police officer.

The charges stem from a reported burglary at their Finksburg home on April 7, 2024. The Osefos told a sheriff’s deputy that their home was broken into while they were on vacation in Jamaica, and that thieves ransacked their bedroom and closets, stealing $450,000 worth of designer handbags and jewelry.

Deputies doubted the claim, and determined that numerous items that the couple said were stolen had been returned to stores for refunds prior to the alleged burglary, a prosecutor wrote in court records.

Claims were submitted to three separate insurance companies. Days after submitting one, Eddie Osefo said he needed to update the information to add that his wife’s gold diamond anniversary band was missing, prosecutors said. But deputies observed Wendy Osefo wearing the ring in a social media post.

“Investigation revealed the Osefos to be burdened by substantial debt,” prosecutors wrote.

Both posted $50,000 bonds and were released, court records show. In a Friday news conference, Carroll County State’s Attorney Haven N. Shoemaker Jr. said a hearing on counsel is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 7.

Deputy State’s Attorney Melissa Hockensmith wrote that the purported point of entry for the alleged burglary at the Osefos’ home was a bathroom window on the second floor, but there was no indication anyone had been on the roof leading to the window. The Osefos’ activated home alarm system did not detect motion inside the home while the pair was away, Hockensmith wrote.

Deputies obtained email records for the Osefos and found an April 12, 2024, message in which Eddie Osefo sent a list of purportedly stolen items to Wendy Osefo.

He asked if there were “additional high-value items we can add to this inventory listing (i.e. Chanel shoes, etc.)? I’m trying to get the total to exceed $423,000 which is our policy maximum,” prosecutors said.

When the couple was arrested Thursday, deputies executed a search and seizure warrant and found at least 15 items that appeared to be the same as those claimed to have been stolen, according to court records.

Osefo, known as Dr. Wendy to fans of “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” is a professor, political commentator and television personality. She was born in Nigeria and immigrated to the United States when she was 3 years old. She shares three children with Eddie, who has a number of business ventures including Happy Eddie, a marijuana company.

In 2014, Osefo was the inaugural director of the Master of Arts in management program at Goucher College. She joined “The Real Housewives of Potomac” starting in its fifth season in 2020. At the time, she was an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. She’s received multiple awards from Hopkins, including the Outstanding Graduate Award and the Distinguished Recent Alumni Award, both in 2017.

Osefo is a prominent Democrat, often appearing on various news programs. She has shared multiple photos on social media of her with leading Democratic politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris. Osefo made headlines last year for interviewing then-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the White House for her YouTube show, “The Dr. Wendy Show.”

At the time, Osefo brought her then-castmate Karen Huger to the White House. Months later, Huger was charged with a DUI. She was found guilty last year and recently finished serving six months in jail.

In an interview with Deadline published this week, Osefo said she had not spoken with Huger since her release. “However, I feel like everybody should be given the opportunity to have a platform to tell their own story,” she said. ”There’s no point or purpose in your story being told by others.”