Inmate charged with insurance fraud [The Wilson Daily Times, N.C.]

Jan. 22--State officials have charged a Wilson man with swindling $4,300 from his insurance company by filing a false claim.

Torrell Tracy Harris, 25, is accused of reporting miscellaneous items stolen from his Wilson home. He reported the supposed theft to police and filed a claim with Assurant Insurance Co., which settled it for $4,344, according to the N.C. Department of Insurance.

State insurance investigators looked into the claim after Assurant learned that Harris recently had made similar theft claims for the same home, state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said in a news release.

Harris is serving an active prison sentence at Greene Correctional Institution outside Maury for an August 2012 Wilson County conviction on three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense. Greene County sheriff's deputies arrested Harris on Jan. 9 and returned him to the prison.

The N.C. Department of Insurance has 20 sworn law enforcement officers who investigate insurance and bail bonding fraud. Since 2009, insurance investigators have made 720 arrests leading to 380 criminal convictions, which led to more than $50 million in restitution and asset recovery, according to the release.

About 10 percent of all insurance premiums pays for fraudulent claims, according to the Department of Insurance.

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