CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. —
A Central Pennsylvania trio has been accused of stealing over $300,000 from insurance companies by filing fraudulent automobile insurance claims.
A Grand Jury investigated an organization comprised of Kwa'rai Samuel, 24, Lori Fish, 50, and Kevin Hartung, 45, and two auto body repair shops, known as LKR Auto Body and Hopper's Foreign Auto Body and Parts.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the suspects would obtain automobile insurance policies by submitting false, incomplete and misleading information, including stolen identities. They would allegedly get information about the vehicles by going to car lots and searching the internet.
In total, the trio allegedly received 28 policies from four different insurance companies.
Once the policies were in place, the group allegedly began reporting accidents that didn't happen and submitting paperwork from the two auto body repair shops (LKR Auto Body and Hopper's Foreign Auto Body and Parts) that only existed on paper in an attempt to legitimize the scam.
According to investigators, the group also submitted photographs that did not show the cars allegedly involved in the accidents.
Out of the 42 fraudulent claims submitted, there were no related police reports and no witnesses to the alleged incidents.
Additionally, according to police, in the claims, the other vehicles involved would be higher-end, luxury cars which would yield a larger payout from the insurance companies.
According to the affidavit, some of the fraudulent claims contained legitimate identifying information of individuals who were victims of identity theft while other submitted claims were allegedly made-up by the trio.
The Grand Jury also learned that there were often recordings between the purported parties to a claim and the insurance company representatives. In five of the 42 claims, Samuel was allegedly the voice for both the insured and the claimant.
According to investigators, in many of the audio recordings, Samuel changed the inflection of his voice when acting as a different person. In at least one recording, Samuel allegedly pretended to be a female by changing his voice to a higher-pitched tone.
In total, $300,998.23 was paid by the insurance carriers directly to Samuel, Fish, Hartung or various vehicle rental companies.
According to online court documents, Samuel and Hartung are facing multiple charges, including false insurance claims, insurance fraud, theft by deception and identity theft. Fish is facing similar insurance fraud charges and weapons charges.
Court documents state that Fish and Samuel are incarcerated at Cumberland County Prison and Hartung is in a Somerset-area facility. All three have preliminary hearings scheduled for April 11.
