The proprietor of a Chalfont, Pennsylvania auto physique restore store submitted 289 false insurance claims over a number of years to 4 insurance corporations, pocketing greater than $426,000 in payouts, in line with the Bucks County district legal professional.
District Attorney Matt Weintraub stated that the proprietor of the restore store, John Paul Reis, turned himself in on Aug. 25, 2022 on costs of insurance fraud, misleading business practices, forgery and theft by deception, all third-degree felonies.
Weintraub stated the costs filed towards Reis are the end result of a four-year investigation that started after a referral from Erie Insurance’s particular investigations unit that alleged the Chalfont Collision Center was enhancing and or creating injury to prospects’ automobiles to inflate insurance estimates. Investigators allege that Reis would wipe a compound combination onto the physique of a number of automobiles and typically strike them with a hammer, making it seem as if the automobiles have been concerned in an accident, in order that he may invoice insurance corporations for extra money.
Officials stated Chalfont Collision Center was a direct restore middle for Erie Insurance and different insurance corporations, which means it was approved to put in writing estimates, full the repairs, and submit the estimate/billing paperwork for fee, dashing up restore time for patrons.
Bucks County detectives informed the court docket they contacted investigative items of different insurance corporations and located that Erie Insurance, Nationwide Insurance, CSAA Insurance Group and Liberty Mutual Insurance collectively recognized 289 estimates that they stated contained “artificial or inflated damages” in the estimates submitted by Chalfont Collision between 2014 and 2022.
The insurance corporations recognized $426,233.64 in fraudulent claims, together with 185 by Liberty Mutual Insurance for $312,265.83.
Charges are solely allegations, and every defendant is presumed harmless except and till confirmed responsible past an inexpensive doubt.
“There is a tendency for some people to think of insurance fraud as a victimless crime,” DA Weintraub stated. “That is, till the monetary losses from these fraudulent claims are handed onto us in the shape of greater insurance charges.
Topics
Auto
Claims
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