Insurance Insights
November 7-13, 2016
Insurance fraud results in jail time
By Allen Kerr
I have written here before about the work of our law enforcement officers and legal professionals that work in the Insurance Department’s Criminal Investigation Division. They are the men and women who carry out our mission to combat insurance fraud in order to keep insurance premiums lower for Arkansas consumers.
While many of the convictions our CID staff secures result in probation and fines, I wish to report to you a couple of recent instances where real jail time in the Arkansas Department of Corrections was part of the sentence.
On October 25, Antonio Fowler, age 30 of North Little Rock, pleaded guilty to one count of Insurance Fraud in Pulaski County Circuit Court on October 25 stemming from purported hit-and-run accident on July 24, 2012. Fowler was a passenger in a vehicle supposedly involved in the accident at the intersection of Gill and Cantrell in Little Rock. The next day, Fowler sought medical treatment for injuries and filed an injury claim with State Farm Insurance. Video surveillance obtained from a nearby business in the course of the investigation showed the vehicle was not involved in any type of accident, and pulled to a stop on the side of the road where Fowler and three other individuals exited it.
Fowler was sentenced to one year in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
On September 26, Chemer Beene, 35, of Little Rock was sentenced Monday in Pulaski County Circuit Court to 36 months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections for her participation in a 2015 scheme to collect insurance payouts from Repwest Insurance Company from a purported vehicle crash.
On September 30 of last year, Schanise Allen, 37, of Little Rock rented a U-Haul vehicle, purchasing the “Safe Move” insurance plan offered through Repwest. Later that evening, Allen reported that she rear-ended a Dodge Challenger driven by Johnathan Summons, 32, of Little Rock on Scott Hamilton Drive in Little Rock. Beene was a passenger in the vehicle driven by Summons. She was joined in the vehicle by Marquis Jones, 20, of Little Rock and Hilary Johnson, 19, of Little Rock. All five individuals made medical claims against Repwest from the reported accident with Summons also submitting a claim for damage to the rear left bumper of his vehicle.
Eight days prior to the accident, Summons filed a separate claim for rear left bumper damage to his vehicle with a separate insurance company, submitting pictures documenting the same damage attributed to the September 30 wreck. Allen told investigators she did not know any of the passengers in Summons’ vehicle while Johnson, Jones, and Beene said they did not know Allen. Investigators later determined that Allen and Beene lived across the street from each other and that Beene and Jones are Facebook friends with Allen.
Fighting fraud on behalf of Arkansas consumers is the mission of our Criminal Investigation Division. I am very proud of their hard work to secure these felony convictions. Fake vehicle crashes are a serious issue that places hardworking Arkansans at risk on the roadways while attacking their pocketbooks through increased costs and higher premiums.
It is my pleasure to continue to serve you as your Insurance Commissioner. For more information on the Arkansas Insurance Department, please visit http://insurance.arkansas.gov, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ARInsuranceDept and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ArkansasInsuranceDepartment.
Allen Kerr was appointed Arkansas Insurance Commissioner on Jan. 13, 2016, by Governor Asa Hutchinson.
