Man sentenced after ‘passenger’ in insurance claim proved not to be in car

May 19--The Tacoma man got into a car wreck at his nephew's apartment complex. The nephew filed an injury claim.

Trouble is, the nephew was safely in his apartment when the accident happened, Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said.

Now, uncle David Arnold Cook of Tacoma has been sentenced for the fraud.

Cook, 52, pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court to a gross misdemeanor for filing a false insurance claim.

He was sentenced May 9 to four months of time and $500 in court costs.

Cook had already served the time and was transferred to Pierce County Jail. He faces 13 felony charges in an unrelated case, the office said.

Cook was charged after an investigation by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler's Criminal Investigations Unit.

Kreidler's office gave this account of the crime:

Cook and his nephew Anthony Jamal Scott, 38, of Kent, both filed injury claims after a collision with another driver in the parking lot of Scott's apartment complex.

Cook, the driver, reported to his insurance company, GEICO, that Scott was a passenger in his car at the time of the collision. Scott asked for an unspecified amount to cover future medical treatment.

GEICO determined through witness statements that at the time of the collision Cook was alone in the car and Scott was in his apartment.

Scott also pleaded guilty to fraud.

This isn't the first insurance fraud case in which Cook has been charged. In 2016, after he was placed on the state's most wanted list for insurance crimes, Cook pleaded guilty in a 2013 wage-loss claim using falsified documents from a nonexistent company.

Cook also uses the alias David Arnold Scott.

Craig Sailor: 253-597-8541, @crsailor

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