Oregon Man Pleads Guilty to $200K Insurance Scam

Much like the cars that that were said to be damaged, Timothy Devon Huntley Jr. has bent the truth as well.

In federal court on Tuesday, the Eugene, OR man pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to KVAL.com.

The scam Huntley admitted to required that he buy used cars, insure them under assumed or stolen names, and then claim to have damaged a parked car with the vehicle. According to prosecutors however, Huntley generally posed as both the party doing the damage and the party receiving the insurance settlement. Aside from now being a convicted felon, he’s apparently a fantastic actor.

This case was uncovered thanks to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, who started investigating due to multiple suspicious insurance claims associated with Huntley.

The investigation was referred to the Financial Crimes Unit of the Eugene Police Department. Prosecutors said Huntley filed at least 30 fraudulent claims resulting in $196,854.20 in losses to at least 11 different insurance companies.

Shortly after insuring a vehicle, Huntley would claim to have damaged a parked car with it. That car would then usually end up being another one of his vehicles, acquired under some variation of his name or that of his wife’s.

Posing as the owner of the damaged parked car, Huntley would make a claim on the recently issued insurance policy. He would then be mailed a check to settle the claim.

Among other things, pleading guilty forced Huntley to admit to obtaining insurance policies for recently-acquired used vehicles and using fictitious names, addresses, dates of birth, and social security account numbers (SSANs). He also used the names, addresses, dates of birth and SSANs belonging to actual persons. At least he was an honest about that.

The Prosecutors in the case stated that public records show Huntley having over 20 prior convictions. Included in that list are at least 10 prior felony convictions for numerous offenses: forgery in the first degree, robbery in the third degree, theft in the first degree, possession of a prohibited firearm, hindering prosecution, and driving with a suspended/revoked license. He is currently in federal custody and awaiting his sentencing on May 24^th.

A three-year term of supervised release following a $250,000 fine and 20 years in prison is the maximum penalty for wire fraud.

Regulated by statute, the penalty for aggravated identity theft is a 24-month prison term –consecutive to any other sentence, and a $250,000 fine, followed by a one-year term of supervised release.