九色

North Carolina’s Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin this week announced the arrest of two people in an alleged insurance fraud scheme involving a staged auto accident in Pitt County.

The state insurance department’s criminal investigators allege that the defendants conspired to defraud State Farm Insurance Company and RepWest Insurance Company of several thousand dollars by submitting fraudulent documentation in support of insurance claims for injuries caused by a staged motor vehicle accident on Aug. 3, 2013.

The department said Larry Bernard Wooten Jr. of Greenville, N.C., was charged with one count each of filing a false police report, insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretense. Wooten was arrested and placed under $5,000 secured bond. Ronnie Brenell Cox of Winterville, N.C., was also charged with one count each of filing a false police report, insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretense. Cox was arrested and placed under a $10,000 secured bond.

North Carolina’s insurance department employs 20 state law enforcement officers for investigating and prosecuting claims of insurance and bail bonding fraud. Since Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin took office in 2009, criminal investigators have made more than 800 arrests, resulting in 430 criminal convictions thus far. The department said these efforts have delivered more than $55 million in restitution and recoveries for victims.

Source: North Carolina Department of Insurance

Topics Fraud North Carolina Numbers