A federal probe into staged accidents involving 18-wheelers in New Orleans continued to barrel along this month as four more participants entered guilty pleas in a scheme to bilk an insurer and a trucking company out of millions of dollars
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana reported that New Orleans residents Anthony Robinson, 67, Audrey Harris, 53, Jerry Schaffer, 66, and Keishira Robinson, 26, last week pled guilty to a conspiracy to engage in mail fraud due to their participation in a staged traffic accident in October 2015.
Ultimately, as a result of an intentional collision with a big-rig, the trucking company and its insurer paid out about $4.7 million in claims filed on behalf of the four who later pled guilty to the fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The four had been referred to attorneys and were treated by health care professionals.
The defendants were passengers in a car driven by Roderick Hickman, a so-called “slammer” who entered a guilty plea to another indictment in the investigation launched by U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser. After the car hit the big-rig owned by C.R. England, Hickman was picked up by Damian Labeaud, another conspirator who received payments from attorneys for staging other accidents, according to indictments.
In turn, Robinson falsely told the New Orleans Police Department that he had been driving the vehicle and that the big-rig had struck the car, prosecutors say.
Renee Amar, executive director of the Louisiana Motor Transport Association, told the Louisiana Record that the investigation has potentially wide-ranging implications.
“When you look at the indictments and progression of those indictments, you see a broad fraud scheme of not just people but also lawyers and possibly other people,” Amar said.
Whether the investigation deters bad actors in the future depends on whether all those who orchestrated the events are brought to justice, she said.
“If all that happens from this scheme is that a few people get convicted or a few lawyers lose their license, then the fraudulent behaviors will persist,” Amar said. “However, if they get to the broader actors like the funders and the doctors involved, then that will likely stop others from participating in such fraud schemes in the future.”
The latest developments in the case bring the number of guilty pleas to 15. In addition, the number of people indicted is 33 – including one New Orleans personal injury attorney, Danny Patrick Keating Jr., 51.
The four defendants who pled guilty Dec. 17 could be sentenced to up to five years in prison, fines of $250,000 and supervised release of up to three years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.