Brilliant Fraudster Boards Bus AFTER “Accident”

Most people, when they see a bus accident, they wonder if there’s something they can do to help or if they should stop and call the cops. There are those other rare instances however, when people choose a completely different path; they run –like lemmings to the sea, past a security camera, towards the bus, climb aboard and feign injuries. Which is exactly what Ronald Moore of Philadelphia did when he saw what he thought was a bus accident. 

As noted on philly.com, this is rather like what happened on November 19, 2008 after a SEPTA bus made contact with a taxi at about 2pm.

“It’s almost comical,” said Assistant District Attorney Linda Montag.

“It was a very small tap by a taxicab. There wasn’t even a scratch on the bus,” she said.

Apparently though, three people –including two men who ran aboard after the incident, didn’t happen to notice that fact, because they later claimed bodily injury.

On Monday, Moore pled guilty to fraud and conspiracy. He was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and face two years probation.

According to court records though, Moore has nine aliases and several convictions on file for drug, robbery and other offenses.

“He claimed he was on the bus. He was not on the bus, and he was not hurt,” Montag said.

The prosecutor noted the video evidence that shows the bus driver leaving the bus, after which Moore and the other man “run down the street, get on the bus and feign injuries, holding their backs.”

Moore made the mistake of filing a claim, but the other man was never charged because he didn’t chose to do so. On that topic, Montag said “I’m not a mind reader, but maybe he changed his mind.”

An actual passenger, Latanya Mathis, was also charged with fraud and conspiracy, after she allegedly lied about smacking her head against a window. However, Montag noted that “when you viewed the video, she did not strike her head.” 

Mathis, also of Philadelphia, is due back in Common Pleas Court on May 24^th for a pretrial conference.

SEPTA has stated that they will not make the video public, at least until after the Mathis case is settled. Though when that time comes, it will surely be an immediate YouTube sensation.

More than 9,000 claims for injuries or property damage have been made against SEPTA since the beginning of 2010, and nearly 5,000 have been settled in or out of court, according to spokeswoman Jerri Williams.

SEPTA pays about $35 million in claims each year, and about 40 percent of claims are settled without going to court, she said.

The injuries tend to include individual accidents, such as falls at stations –even though they have those pesky video cameras there as well.

If someone were to write the book How Not to Commit Insurance Fraud, this story would definitely be one of the top contenders for chapter 1.