Tennessee man gets eight years for masterminding insurance fraud ring
by Ryan Smith
06 Oct 2017
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A Tennessee man is headed to federal prison for nearly eight years for masterminding an insurance fraud ring that caused nearly $1 million in losses.Dallas Ray Lewis Jr., 55, was sentenced to 92 months in prison for conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
Prosecutors said that Lewis had been involved in staging at least 16 car accidents over a 20-year period, according to a report by the Exponent Telegram. Assistant US Attorney Anthony Cougar said that Lewis acted as a kind of “producer” and “director” for the car accidents – determining where, when and how they would happen, the Telegram reported.
On occasion, Lewis even had the people who staged the accidents cut themselves with razor blades – so realistically that they fooled physicians, insurers and law enforcement officers into thinking the injuries had been incurred in the accidents.
Authorities said that Lewis recruited friends, relatives, and “some very desperate people” to stage the accidents.
Lewis’s defense attorney, Tom Dyer, tried to argue that convictions from the 1980s should be excluded when determining his criminal history, but Keeley said they indicated a lifetime career of fraud, the Telegram reported. She dismissed as irrelevant Dyer’s contention that Lewis was a friendly, likable person.
“I’m sure he’s a nice man. I just don’t want to be on the road with him when there’s an accident going on,” Keeley said.
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CLARKSBURG, TN — A ringleader of a group that allegedly staged wrecks and accompanying injuries in Harrison, Marion and Taylor counties to get insurance payouts has pleaded guilty.
Dallas Lewis, 55, of Clarksburg, entered a plea before U.S. Magistrate Michael John Aloi Thursday to felony conspiracy to commit mail fraud and will be sentenced at a later date by U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley.
Lewis and his lawyer, Zach Dyer of Clarksburg, agreed to a stipulation that the defendant was involved in more than $550,000 of phony insurance payouts, but less than $1.5 million; that there were 10 or more victims; and that there were five or more participants, of which Lewis acted over as an organizer or leader.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Cook, explaining the government’s case at the request of Aloi, said the crime occurred from January 2012 to August of 2014.
Lewis was involved directly in only one of the wrecks, according to Cook. But he told others how to stage the wrecks, arranged for drivers, victims inside the vehicles and even witnesses, Cook told the court.
Requests for damages from insurance companies totaled about $655,000, Cook said. She cited the investigation by agents of the West Virginia Insurance Commission’s Fraud Unit and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Dyer didn’t object to Cook’s summary of the case, and Lewis agreed that it was substantially correct.
Lewis then told the court what he did: “I helped organize and gave advice on what to do, things of that nature.”
Lewis was the fourth of the eight defendants in the case to plead guilty.
Previously, Chasity Costilow, 38, of Clarksburg, Eric Warner, 34, also of Clarksburg, and Charles Bonner, 34, of Morgantown, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud each.
A fifth defendant, Robin Stoneking, 56, of Fairmont, is set for a plea hearing next Tuesday.
Others pending prosecution are Martin Stoneking, 25, of Fairmont; Bryce Martin, 26, of Fairmont, and Michael Sine, 34, of Fairmont.
Lewis is likely to face a recommended sentence of somewhere around 5 years in prison due to the amount of money involved, the number of victims and his role as an organizer. But depending on what his criminal history is, that time could go up or down some.
Aloi permitted Lewis to remain free pending sentencing. In the meantime, a probation officer will complete a presentence investigation for Keeley.
The district judge will also have the final say on whether to adjudge Lewis guilty and to accept the plea agreement.
Also:
— Demetrius M. McLendon, 21, of Lithonia, Georgia, has been arrested by the Greater Harrison Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force on one count of uttering a fraudulent prescription and one count of attempting to do so.
A veteran agent has accused McLendon of wrongdoing Wednesday at the Sam’s Club Pharmacy. McLendon sought Promethazein and Amoxicillin, the criminal complaint alleges.
McLendon’s bail was set at $20,000 by Harrison Magistrate Keith Marple.
— Kenneth Stapleton, 33, of Chicago, has waived his probable cause hearing before Harrison Chief Magistrate Mark Gorby, according to the office of Prosecutor Rachel Romano.
Clarksburg Patrol Officer Nathan Paugh alleges Stapleton unsuccessfully tried to use a fraudulent prescription to buy penicillin antibiotic Amoxicillin. Wrongdoing occurred May 16 at The Kroger Co. pharmacy on Emily Drive, according to Paugh.
— Joshua Thomas Sailor, 31, of Stonewood, has waived his probable cause hearing before Harrison Magistrate Tammy Marple.
The waiver sends to circuit court the four counts of felony fraudulent use of an access device.
In January, Sailor and another individual obtained a woman’s credit card, then used it to make unauthorized purchases, Bridgeport Pfc. Louis Janssen has alleged.
At Meadowbrook Mall, the two rang up unlawful bills for about $77 at a hat store, about $295 at a shoe store and $300 at a video game store, Janssen has alleged. Sailor and the other individual then used the card to make a purchase of about $12 at the nearby GoMart, Janssen has alleged.
— Melissa June Fetty, 34, of Clarksburg, has waived her probable cause hearing before Tammy Marple on a charge of felony third-offense driving under the influence.
Fetty drove under the influence May 5 on Maud and Clay streets in Clarksburg, Clarksburg Pfc. Bill Swiger has alleged.
— Ruben Valdez Luna, 28, of Fairmont, has waived his probable cause hearing before Marple on a charge of felony third-offense driving on a license suspended or revoked for DUI.
Luna was driving unlawfully April 6 when he wrecked on Interstate 79 near the Anmoore exit, Harrison Deputy Chris Harris has alleged.
— Harrison Circuit Judge Thomas A. Bedell has sentenced Guillermo Espinoza, 29, of Clarksburg, to a year in jail and fined him $500, according to Romano’s office.
Espinoza was sentenced for misdemeanor accessory after the fact to possession with intent to deliver.
— Amanda Renee Norman, 27, of Clarksburg, has entered a pretrial diversion for three years, according to Romano’s office.
Norman had been indicted in May on two counts of breaking and entering, two counts of grand larceny and two counts of conspiracy to commit breaking and entering.
Harrison Circuit Judge Chris McCarthy is presiding.