In New Orleans federal probe of staged big-rig wrecks, three more plead guilty

Three more New Orleans-area defendants pleaded guilty this week for roles as passengers in a high-stakes scheme to crash vehicles into big rigs for hefty insurance payouts.

Dimitri Frazier, 31, Tiffany Turner, 52, and her daughter, Adonte Turner, 25, each pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

They admitted to participating in a staged wreck on Nov. 13, 2017 on eastbound Interstate 10 near Paris Road, in which Frazier's Chevrolet Impala was used to crash into a 2013 International tractor trailer.

They also admitted falsely claiming in court that Tiffany Turner had been driving, when in truth, a "slammer" was behind the wheel and fled the scene.

Frazier and Tiffany Turner sought medical treatment to boost their insurance payouts, which never came, court records state. The trio dropped their lawsuit over the crash on the eve of trial in 2019, as federal authorities were homing in on parallel schemes to stage wrecks in the city.

Turner admitted in a 2021 interview with the feds that the wreck was "set up."

Their pleas this week mean 47 of 52 defendants have pleaded guilty in a series of indictments since 2019 charging them in a brazen scam that involved the same sets of lawyers repeatedly filing claims for passengers in crashes the feds say were staged.

In some cases, those passengers underwent surgeries they didn't need, according to prosecutors.

Only one attorney, Danny Patrick Keating Jr., has faced charges to date. Keating pleaded guilty in 2021 and is scheduled to be sentenced in three weeks.

He has admitted to being in on staged accidents before they happened and of paying prolific slammer Damian Labeaud for the work. Labeaud also is slated to be sentenced next month.

Those upcoming court dates have raised questions about whether federal prosecutors are wrapping up their case without having pursued charges against bigger fish within New Orleans' legal community.

One of the 52 defendants, slammer Cornelius Garrison, was gunned down four days after his indictment in the case, in what prosecutors fear was a targeted attack to prevent his cooperation with the government. Charges against another defendant were dismissed.

This week's guilty pleas leave three people with pending charges in the case.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance set April 10 sentencing dates for the three defendants who pleaded guilty this week.