Three People Indicted In Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud Scheme
By newsdesk - Posted on September 25th, 2007
September 21, 2007 -- WORCESTER – Today, three people were indicted in connection with an insurance fraud scheme that included the staging of two motor vehicle collisions in Worcester, Massachusetts. A Worcester County Grand Jury returned indictments against Eric Bonnette, age 24, Mercy Encarnacion, age 29, and Damaris Matos, age 39, all of Worcester, charging each with two counts of Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud and four counts of Conspiracy to Commit Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud. Additionally, Bonnette was charged with one count of Assault and Battery.
Today’s indictments are the result of an extensive investigation that was initially conducted by the Lowell Community Insurance Fraud Initiative (CIFI) Task Force, a joint initiative of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, the Lowell Police Department, and the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts. Among others, that investigation led to indictments against Bonnette, Encarnacion, and Matos for conspiracy to commit motor vehicle insurance fraud in Middlesex County. The investigation also developed information about several staged accidents in 2004 set up by Bonnette, Encarnacion, and Matos in Worcester County.
According to authorities, on May 7, 2004, and again on May 26, 2004, Bonnette, Encarnacion and Matos recruited individuals to participate in staged accidents so that these individuals would then file fraudulent insurance claims against their auto insurance carriers for injuries they would claim to have received in these accidents and for lost wages due to their injuries. On one occasion, Bonnette was involved in a physical altercation with one of the individuals who participated in a staged accident but did not want to file insurance claims.
A Worcester County Grand Jury returned indictments against Bonnette, Encarnacion, and Matos today. They are scheduled to be arraigned October 4, 2007 in Worcester Superior Court.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General William Freeman with assistance of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts.
Source: Massachusetts Attorney General
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