Fraud News Around the Nation

Washington Insurance Fraud Most Wanted Suspect Arrested in California

Leandre Garner, one of Washington state’s insurance fraud most wanted suspects, was arrested in California and jailed. With bail set at $10,00, Garner’s trial is set for April 21 in Pierce County Superior Court.

Garner was charged with second-degree attempted theft and filing a false insurance claim in September 2013 after an investigation by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU). According to the investigation, Garner, a resident of University Place at the time, obtained insurance for his 2007 Chrysler 300 in November 2012. The next day, he filed a claim with State Farm that his car was damaged in an apartment complex parking lot, along with a damage repair estimate of more than $4,300. However, the car was damaged before he purchased the insurance.

Garner failed to appear in court to face the charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Louisiana Mother, Daughter Arrested for Crash Scam

State police say an Alexandria, La., woman who claimed that she and her daughter were injured in a car crash now is facing charges.

The Town Talk reports 20-year-old Alexis Jack was booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center Tuesday on two counts of insurance fraud and two counts of felony criminal conspiracy.

The State Police’s Insurance Fraud and Auto Theft Unit in Alexandria investigated the December 2015 crash.

Troopers say Jack claimed that she and her daughter were passengers in a vehicle that allegedly crashed. She had sought compensation from several insurance companies for injuries she claimed that both she and her daughter sustained.

Trooper say an investigation revealed that a crash did not occur.

Online jail records do not list an attorney for Jack.

California Construction Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Insurance Fraud

The owner of a Sacramento,Calif., construction company has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and insurance fraud.

The Sacramento Bee reports that 47-year-old William Alan Huffman on Thursday entered his plea after being arrested in January.

The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office says Huffman falsely reported to his workers’ compensation insurance carriers that he had no or very few employees at Capital City Construction Co. During this time he paid his employees in cash and avoided paying the California Employment Development Department and insurance premiums.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Huffman will be ordered to serve one year in county jail, be on probation for five years, and to pay more than $303,000 in restitution.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 24.

Washington Casino Dealer Must Repay $27,000 in Workers’ Comp Scam

A Spokane card dealer caught working at casinos while receiving disability benefits must repay the state more than $27,000.

Arredondo claimed he injured his lower back in May 2013 while working as a card dealer at a Spokane casino. L&I opened a claim for Arredondo, and two doctors and a nurse practitioner certified he should receive wage-replacement payments. He received workers’ comp benefits from June 2013 through March 2014, repeatedly stating on official forms that he couldn’t work and wasn’t working.

A cross-check of L&I records with that of other state agencies, however, revealed otherwise.

L&I investigators found that Arredondo continued to work as a card dealer for nearly the entire eight months he was collecting workers’ comp benefits, but at casinos other than the one where he was injured. The casino where he was injured closed, so he worked separate stints at two other casinos in Spokane.

Arredondo’s medical providers told L&I that if he had told them he was working, they would not have certified him to receive the state benefits, charging papers said.

Victor Arredondo pleaded guilty in Spokane County Superior Court to felony second-degree theft and misdemeanor third-degree theft. Judge Gregory Sypolt ordered Arredondo to repay the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) $27,183, the amount he admitted stealing in workers’ compensation benefits.

Sypolt also sentenced Arredondo to 10 days in jail, but converted the jail time to 80 hours of community service. If Arredondo breaks the law or fails to comply with the sentencing terms within one year, he faces up to 364 days behind bars.

The Washington Attorney General’s office prosecuted the case based on an L&I investigation.

AP contributed to this content.