Multiple People Charged in SC Fraud Investigations into Staged Accidents

South Carolina authorities have charged multiple people with insurance fraud, including two who allegedly staged an auto accident and filed a $223,000 claim with Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Courtney Harris, 34, of Midlands, was arrested Thursday, Nov. 5, after investigators found that her insurance claim was fabricated. After the October crash, Harris told police and Enterprise claims services that she did not know the alleged victim in the incident, the arrest warrant indicates.

But an investigator with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division soon discovered that the two women had, in fact, known each other for some time.

Also charged was Shante Elizabeth Bethel, 43. She is accused of forging documents from a health clinic to show that she was injured in the accident.

The SC Law Enforcement Division (SLED) also charged Lonnie Johnson, 35, with submitting a falsified physician’s statement to Aflac, the disability insurance company, following an ATV accident in May.

“The defendant knowingly submitted a false physician’s statement from Midlands Ortho & Neurosurgery,” the arrest warrant reads. “This Affiant confirmed with the medical facility that the defendant was not seen at their facility for this date. Therefore, the document was falsified, and the physician’s signature was forged.”

Johnson is one of seven people charged in a multi-county investigation into insurance fraud, SLED explained. Five were arrested on Oct. 14 and another was charged Oct. 27.

Topics Fraud