SC authorities charge 18 people in Sumter insurance fraud ring

COLUMBIA - State authorities say they've arrested more than a dozen people involved in an insurance fraud ring based out of the Sumter area.

Seventeen people have been arrested so far on various insurance fraud charges after allegedly staging traffic crashes in order to file phony claims for property damage and personal injuries.

Tyburious Marquis Heyward, the final defendant, remained wanted by authorities April 6 on allegations he masterminded the scheme, said Renée Wunderlich, spokeswoman for State Law Enforcement Division.

Heyward planned some of the fake crashes while he was in state prison, she said.

The other 17 defendants have been arrested, Wunderlich said, and all but one of them are jailed at Sumter Lee Regional Detention Center.

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Arrest warrant affidavits allege the conspirators staged at least four traffic crashes in Sumter between August 2020 and October 2021.

One man allegedly conspired with his two cousins to crash a U-Haul truck into a 2005 Ford Mustang in December 2020 on U.S. Highway 15. The defendants hoodwinked insurance companies out of nearly $20,000 in that crash, affidavits state.

Several defendants claimed to be involved in a crash in October involving two Nissans, afterward filing claims for thousands of dollars in lost wages due to supposed injuries, according to the affidavits.

Altogether, authorities say the conspirators earned more than $93,000 from the staged crashes.

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Authorities say Heyward orchestrated the complex fraud schemes, even as he was still serving a 6½ year sentence in state prison.

Heyward allegedly recruited the other defendants into the scheme from behind bars, sometimes impersonating other defendants while on the phone with insurance companies, affidavits state.

One defendant told investigators Heyward contacted him from prison in March 2021 to cash a $10,000 insurance check for him. The defendant said he was paid $2,500 to do it, affidavits state.

Chrysti Shain, spokeswoman for S.C. Department of Corrections, said Heyward was granted supervised release from prison on April 1, 2021.

He was serving his time at Ridgeland Correction Institution before his release, according to prison records.

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In April 2020, a year before he was released, Heyward was disciplined for possessing or attempting to possess a cellphone, as well as soliciting a jail employee, records state.

Sumter County court records show this isn't the first time Heyward has been accused of masterminding an insurance fraud scheme.

In 2017, Heyward conspired with several others to stage four vehicle crashes in Sumter County. The scheme netted the conspirators close to $150,000 in false insurance claims, according to arrest warrant affidavits.

Heyward pleaded guilty in April 2019 to four counts of insurance fraud in the case and was sentenced to five years in prison, court records state.

Shain said Heyward was also serving a 18-month sentence for failing to stop for an officer.

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SLED investigated the case with the S.C. Department of Insurance. The S.C. Attorney General's Office will prosecute the defendants.

SLED Chief Mark Keel said in a statement his agency was committed to rooting out insurance fraud.

"The victims of staged accidents, and our citizens that pay the resulting higher insurance premiums, are all better served through this collaboration and the state's increased investment in fighting insurance fraud," the chief said.

Katie Greer, spokeswoman for the Department of Insurance, said additional claims involving the defendants remain under investigation.

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Tully Lehman, spokeswoman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, said staged traffic accidents are "big business."

Fraudsters often stage crashes in urban areas, where there are more vehicles, and wealthier communities, where drivers are perceived to have better insurance companies, Lehman said.

Innocent drivers are sometimes unwittingly roped into staged accidents, Lehman said, but organized insurance fraud is also not uncommon. A staged crash can involve multiple drivers, "convenient" witnesses and bystanders willing to recommend a body shop, doctor or attorney.

"Sometimes they are all working together," Lehman said.

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The arrested defendants are Taqwan Omar Sharif Abrams, 19; Tyler Anderson, 24; Davarius Teshaun Brown, 22; Ar'Terrani Shyni General, 24; Aminah Samira Hart, 28; Michael Gerald Leneau, 34; Shalii Daquan Leneau, 30; Alexis M. Mosley, 21; Brad Le'Var Nelson, 20; Marquis Derriko Pressley, 22; Calvin Sean Porcher, 31; Deljuan Talik Shaw, 19; Oshzhane Keyonna Simon, 25; Marquise Deonta Arnez Slater, 23; Shamaria Tyanna Vanburen, 21; Shy Miek Washington, 27; and Shyrem Shadell Williams, 28.