HARRISBURG – Attorney General Tom Corbett has announced that agents from the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section have arrested a Chester County man accused of forging his estranged wife’s signature on loan applications and insurance documents in order to purchase six vehicles in her name, worth more than $183,000.
Corbett identified the defendant as Everett Frank, 44, 330 West Conestoga Road, Devon (currently incarcerated at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill).
Corbett said that Frank is accused of repeatedly using his estranged wife’s personal information to obtain loans for the purchase of six cars and trucks from a Chester County dealership, ranging in price from $15,000 to $43,000. The vehicles were all purchased during a six-month period of time without the knowledge or consent of Michelle Frank, who learned about the purchases when she was contacted by a collection agency after several of the loans were reported as delinquent in January 2008.
“Identity theft is a growing concern for consumers and for law enforcement across the country, affecting as many as 9 million Americans every year,” Corbett said. “These crimes can impact a victims’ credit record, their finances and their sense of personal safety and security, and we are committed to prosecuting these cases to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to the criminal complaint, Frank allegedly agreed to buy the vehicles but did not have sufficient credit to purchase them himself. Frank allegedly asked dealership personnel if he could take the paperwork home in order to have them signed by Michelle Frank, and had the vehicle’s titled in her name along with the name of his business.
Corbett said that Everett Frank allegedly forged Michelle Frank’s signatures on various sales documents; provided the dealership with a copy of her driver’s license without her permission; and produced fraudulent insurance papers for the six vehicles that he purchased. Those insurance documents were allegedly altered to make it appear that the vehicles were covered by a valid policy, when none of the vehicles were actually insured.
Frank is charged with six counts of identity theft, twelve counts of forgery, six counts of insurance fraud (providing false, incomplete or misleading information), six counts of insurance fraud (presenting false information to a government agency) and one count of theft by deception, all third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.
Frank was preliminarily arraigned on Thursday, November 6th, before Devon Magisterial District Judge Susann Welsh, who set bail at $5,000 cash. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 13th, at 11 a.m., before Magisterial District Judge Welsh.
Corbett said that following his arraignment, Frank was returned to the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill, where he is currently serving sentences for other criminal cases prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section and the Delaware County District Attorney’s office.
