Tri-Cities pro MMA fighter charged with insurance fraud. His brother is too

Feb. 11—RICHLAND, Wa. — A Tri-Cities professional MMA fighter is charged with insurance fraud for buying a policy on an all-terrain vehicle that he did not own.

Bryan A. Caraway, 36, allegedly forged the title for a 2015 Polaris RZR that belonged to his former longtime girlfriend, retired Ultimate Fighting Championship star Miesha Tate of Tacoma.

But Caraway, nicknamed "Kid Lightning," isn't the only member of his family facing multiple charges of insurance fraud. His brother is also charged with a felony.

And while their cases are not related, both involve allegations of claiming vehicles that did not legally belong to them and fraudulently changing the titles.

The allegations against Bryan Caraway date to December 2018, when investigators say he reported the vehicle stolen from his Richland home. He bought the insurance policy just days before filing the theft claim with his insurance company, according to court documents.

Caraway said the vehicle and its contents — including helmets, battery charger and spare tire — were valued at $18,500.

He briefly was on the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner's "Most Wanted" list on Wednesday for missing a scheduled Feb. 4 court hearing.

But shortly after Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler issued a statewide news release, Caraway contacted the Benton County Prosecutor's Office to arrange a new arraignment date on his felony charges.

Prosecutors immediately had Caraway's $100 arrest warrant quashed, and Kreidler removed him from his wanted list of alleged insurance scammers.

Caraway now is scheduled to enter a plea March 11 to forgery, making a false statement on a vehicle application certificate of title, false claims of proof in excess of $1,500 and first-degree attempted theft.

He also is under investigation for grand larceny in Nevada for allegedly stealing the ATV on two separate occasions from Tate's Las Vegas property.

Brother charged

Thomas J. Caraway, 44, has a Benton County Superior Court case that was filed Jan. 12, the same day as Bryan Caraway's charges.

Thomas Caraway was at his brother's Birch Avenue home in April 2018 the first time he reported a 2007 GMC Sierra truck stolen. Three months later, he again filed a theft report, saying it was taken while he was watching a movie in Sunnyside, court documents show.

Prosecutors said the pickup actually was repossessed the first time by the legal owner for nonpayment by Thomas Caraway, and the second time wasn't even in his possession but in Oregon with its new owner.

Yet, the Prosser man's insurance carrier covered a nearly $1,500 rental car tab after the July 2018 report, and later paid out nearly $15,200 for the GMC and his personal belongings inside, according to documents.

Thomas Caraway is charged with first-degree theft, forgery, making a false statement on a vehicle application certificate of title and false claims of proof in excess of $1,500

He also missed the Feb. 4 hearing that was on his summons, but called the court a short time later and had his own warrant quashed. His new court date is Feb. 25.

The investigations in both cases were handled by Kreidler's Criminal Investigations Unit.

2017 split

In Bryan Caraway's case, the professional fighter called Richland police on Dec. 24, 2018, to say he'd just returned home from Las Vegas to find his all-terrain vehicle missing.

That night, he filed an online claim with GEICO insurance agency.

He was interviewed about the theft a week later by a claims adjuster and said that when he and Tate broke up, she gifted the vehicle to him, court documents said.

The two had appeared in Fight Life, a feature-length documentary on the lives of mixed martial arts fighters outside the cage, and Caraway was on the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV series.

He further said the title had been in his name since January 2018, and that he'd purchased the insurance policy on both the Polaris and an RV while he was en route to Washington from Nevada, documents said.

Tate, who grew up in Tacoma, and Caraway, a Goldendale native, met while both attended Central Washington University in Ellensburg. They dated for more than a decade and had a home together in Richland before splitting in 2017.

The pair used to train in a Tri-City high school wrestling room when in town, and were considered "celebrity coaches" for the students.

Ex's property

After the insurance claim was filed at the end of 2018, it was referred to GEICO's Special Investigations Unit.

Richland Officer Christian Jabri, who took the initial theft report, told an investigator that Tate received the Polaris RZR on Dec. 19 because she was the legal owner, court documents said.

Tate further told Jabri that she never sold or gifted the vehicle to Caraway and believed he had forged her name on documents in order to change the name on the title.

In addition to the police and insurance investigations, someone with the Washington state Department of Licensing started looking into the title transfer, documents said.

The GEICO investigator told Caraway in February 2019 that Tate had repossessed the vehicle two days before Caraway got the insurance policy. Caraway claimed he had no idea his ex was going to take back the vehicle.

Tate then elected to withdraw his claim from GEICO, and allegedly told the investigator that he wanted to "strangle" Tate and would just steal the vehicle back.

At that point, the case was forwarded to the Insurance Commissioner's Office as required by state law with findings of fraud. There it was assigned to Detective Ken Harkcom.

Las Vegas thefts

The detective discovered Caraway had submitted a vehicle title application, a bill of sale with a fake Tate signature, a forged Nevada title and a certificate of fact that also was false, all to the Washington Department of Licensing in January 2018.

He received a new title based off the fraudulent documents, but it was canceled more than a year later during the department's investigation.

Caraway also allegedly had been successful in August 2018 in getting his name added to the vehicle title for Tate's fifth-wheel trailer. That also was later canceled.

The investigations found that Caraway knew Tate had already picked up her trailer and the ATV from her former Richland house before Caraway called GEICO to get an insurance policy, court documents said.

Caraway claimed he did not know who took the Polaris when he contacted Richland police on Christmas Eve, and immediately filed his claim with GEICO in an attempt to get paid the estimated $18,500, documents said. He also reportedly signed and had notarized a theft questionnaire for the insurance company in February 2019 stating he was the owner.

Detective Harkcom said he was notified by Las Vegas police that Caraway was under investigation there for going to Tate's home in late February 2019 and stealing the Polaris. He was caught on surveillance video, and the vehicle was found in his current girlfriend's garage in Las Vegas, court documents said.

Caraway went back two weeks later and, for a second time, was seen on video taking the vehicle from Tate's house, documents said,

Tate showed Las Vegas investigators a text conversation with Caraway the night of the second theft, in which he allegedly admitted to stealing the Polaris and forging her signature on the original title.

Brother's case

Thomas Caraway bought the GMC Sierra in 2013 from his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend. The seller held onto the title until Caraway paid the remaining $2,000 balance.

After more than four years of nonpayment, the seller told Richland police that he drove up from Oregon on April 5, 2018, and repossessed the pickup. He said he was surprised at the time to find Washington license plates on the truck since he had never transferred the title to Caraway, according to court documents.

When Caraway called police, he said the truck was taken from outside the Richland house and suspected it had been the previous owner.

He added that there was a dispute between the two about whether the truck had been fully paid off, so after the seller refused to give him the title, he went to the Washington Department of Licensing and got the pickup registered in his own name, documents said.

The original owner worked with Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services to correct the title issues. He then sold the pickup two months later to a couple who were making payments on it.

2nd theft report

Even though the GMC Sierra was not in his possession in May 2018, Caraway obtained a GEICO insurance policy listing it as one of four vehicles needing coverage. Then in July 2018, he reported it stolen from outside the Sunnyside movie theater.

Caraway filed a theft claim with GEICO that night. He told a claims examiner the following day that the truck had never been reported stolen, even though he'd made a report three months prior in Richland.

A GEICO investigator was asked to review Caraway's claim because of the discrepancy.

Another insurance agency told the investigator that the Richland matter was determined to be a civil matter and not a theft, and that Caraway had called the company in June 2018 to let them know the GMC had been returned to him, according to court documents.

GEICO then closed their investigation and got a rental car for Caraway. A month later, he signed a release of interest in the GMC and GEICO paid the claim, documents said.

The exact same day that Caraway received the $15,154 payment through an online currency exchange, the GMC Sierra was stopped by Oregon State Police because the theft report was still active out of Sunnyside. It was being driven by a relative of the new buyer.

The original owner had to contact Sunnyside police and dispute Caraway's claim that it was stolen, court documents said.

Rejected interview

A GEICO investigator notified the Washington insurance commissioner's office in January 2019 about the suspected fraud.

The case was assigned to Detective Harkcom, who found that Caraway first tried to get the vehicle title in his name in August 2017, but did not finish the transaction.

Caraway submitted another application to the Washington licensing department in November 2017 saying "owner in doubt" and received a registration. He also mistakenly was issued a title, documents said.

He followed it up with additional documents in April 2018 alleging he'd made full payment for the GMC, but the owner had not responded or provided him with the title. He provided a bill of sale with the original owner's falsified initials and signature, court documents said.

Caraway was notified of the criminal investigation in October 2019 and asked to meet with Harkcom.

During the phone call, Caraway said when the truck was taken from him in April 2018, he filed the claim and then went to Oregon to steal it back, documents said.

Harkcom told him they'd go over the details during their scheduled interview the next week, but Caraway reportedly followed up their call with a text message to say he would not be coming in.

State officials say insurance fraud is estimated to cost more than $40 billion per year, with the average American family covering $400 to $700 per year in increased premiums. Consumers can report suspected insurance fraud on the state insurance commissioner's website.

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