Two men from Cambria County face a string of felony charges after state investigators accused them of filing fraudulent insurance claims in 2020 with an agent in Arnold for three vehicles they owned together.
Calvin Marcell Booker, 26, and David James Gaida, 23, both of the 400 block of Gallitain Road in Cresson, were charged by a state Attorney General’s Office agent with 16 counts — a dozen of which are felonies — that include insurance fraud, conspiracy, theft by deception and filing false documents.
The men were released from custody after posting an unsecured $25,000 bond. They face preliminary hearings before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. on June 30, according to court records.
The agent wrote in a criminal complaint charging the pair that they added a 2002 Chevrolet Corvette to an existing Geico insurance policy six days after receiving notice that the policy would be canceled, on Oct. 26, 2020, for failing to pay the premiums.
On the day the policy was set to expire, they filed a claim for damage caused to the Corvette by paint splatters while following a line-painting truck, the complaint said. That claim was denied by the company on Nov. 11.
About 45 minutes after filing the the claim, the men obtained a policy from a State Farm agent in Arnold without disclosing that the paint was damaged, the complaint said.
On Oct. 29, they filed a claim with State Farm for the paint damage but told them it happened that same day, investigators said. The...
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