Mother-son duo frame deer, animals in ,000 insurance fraud scam, NC officials say [The Charlotte Observer]

Charlotte Observer (NC)

A mother and son in North Carolina are accused of scamming an insurance company out of more than $10,000 by lying about crashes involving wildlife, according to state officials.

Martha Jeffries Inman, 68, lied to her insurance company when she said “her car and truck had been struck multiple times by deer and other animals,” the North Carolina Department of Insurance said Thursday in a news release. Her son, 43-year-old Cecil Dwayne Roberson, is accused of submitting a false statement in support of her insurance claim.

Inman received $10,635 from Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Co. as a result, investigators said.

Inman and Roberson live together in Stoneville, a town of roughly 1,400 people in Rockingham County.

According to the release, the alleged insurance fraud occurred between Oct. 15, 2019, and Jan. 10, 2021. Inman is accused of submitting 19 fraudulent insurance claims during that time, said Barry Smith, a spokesperson with the state Department of Insurance.

Allstate suspected some of her claims were fraudulent and reported it to the N.C. Department of Insurance Criminal Investigations Division, Smith said. The case was then assigned to special agents to investigate.

Inman and Roberson were charged in Rockingham County with insurance fraud, investigators said. Inman, who was served with a criminal summons Aug. 18, was also charged with obtaining property by false pretenses.

Robinson faces additional charges of aiding and abetting and was arrested Aug. 19.

According to Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, insurance fraud can cost customers “$120 billion a year in increased premiums.”

“The Department of Insurance has reinforced its criminal investigations procedures and personnel in an effort to make more arrests to keep fraud from driving up insurance costs,” Causey said.

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