A Donegal man faces multiple counts of insurance fraud and theft on accusations that he scammed two insurance companies on separate occasions with false claims totaling more than $30,000.
Walter A. Smith Jr., 45, was charged on Friday by the state Attorney General’s Office.
Smith faces eight counts of insurance fraud, four counts of theft by deception and four counts of attempted theft by deception in a scheme in which Smith is alleged to have sought payment for the same animal scratches on his 2015 Nissan multiple times in 2023 and 2024.
Fourteen of the 15 charges filed against Smith are felonies.
Attorney General’s agent Amy Adams accused Smith Jr. in the criminal complaint of filing a series of claims with Allstate Insurance Co. and Root Insurance Co. stating that his dogs scratched his SUV in the same parts of the vehicle. Smith was paid $12,788 from Allstate and filed for $17,672 in claims that were not paid by Allstate and Root, according to the criminal complaint.
Adams stated in the criminal complaint that Smith confessed in an interview in Norvelt last year that he filed the fraudulent claims because he needed the money. Smith told the agent his initial claim for his dog scratching his vehicle in October 2023, in which Allstate paid him $5,359 for the damages and almost $800 to reimburse him for a rental vehicle, was legitimate, according to the complaint.
Allstate then paid claims in December 2023 and January, February and March of last year for repeated damage...
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