A Bucks County collision center owner who submitted nearly 300 false insurance claims, pocketing more than $426,000 in payouts has surrendered to authorities, they said.

John Paul Reis, 56, of Newtown Township, turned himself in on Thursday, Aug. 25, on charges of insurance fraud, deceptive business practices, forgery, and theft by deception, all third-degree felonies, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.

The charges come after a four-year investigation by county detectives that began in Sept. 2018, after they received a referral from officials with Erie Insurance who claimed that the Chalfont Collision Center on Park Avenue was purposely causing damage to customers' vehicles to raise insurance estimates.

Erie Insurance was just one of four insurance companies that Reis scammed over several years.

The investigation found that in order to do this, Reis would wipe a compound mixture onto the body of several vehicles and sometimes hit them with a hammer, making it look as if the vehicles were involved in an accident, so he could bill insurance companies for more money, authorities said.

Because Chalfont Collision Center was a direct repair center for Erie Insurance and numerous other insurance companies, the business was verified and authorized to write estimates and complete the repairs, among other responsibilities, bypassing the repair time for customers, the DA's office said.

As the investigation continued, county detectives were able to get in...

Read Full Story: https://dailyvoice.com/pennsylvania/bucks/police-fire/pa-collision-center-own...