HARRISBURG – Attorney General Tom Corbett announced that agents from the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section have filed criminal charges against a Beaver County man accused of staging the theft and destruction of his vehicle in order to collect more than $13,300 from his insurance company.
Corbett identified the defendant as James Andrew DeGore, 52, Beaver Falls.
Corbett said that on March 11, DeGore reported his 2002 Dodge Caravan stolen from the parking lot of the Waterfront Shopping Complex in Homestead, Allegheny County. He filed a theft report with the Homestead Police Department and three days later the van was recovered, suffering from extensive fire damage.
After determining that the damaged van was a total loss, Farmers Insurance Co. made a payment of $13,349 for the van along with $493 for a rental car used by DeGore following the incident.
According to the criminal charges, DeGore had allegedly arranged for the van to be stolen — paying an acquaintance $300 to make it “disappear.”
DeGore is charged with one count of insurance fraud and one count of theft by deception, both third degree felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
DeGore is also charged with one count of making false reports to law enforcement authorities, a third degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Charges were filed on Wednesday before Munhall Magisterial District Judge Thomas Torkowsky. DeGore was released on his own recognizance and waived his preliminary hearing.
The case will be prosecuted in Allegheny County by Deputy Attorney General Jerome A. Orie of the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section.