NC Man Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Arson, and Lying for Painkillers

A Burlington, North Carolina man is in trouble with the law this week for committing several fraud and financial crimes.

According to the Times-News, on August 15^th, Paul E. Lemley pled guilty to filing a string of fake police reports between December 2009 and December 2010, burning his car in order to get the insurance pay-out, and receiving prescriptions for painkillers from numerous different doctors over 8 months.

On several occasions, Lemley reported break-ins at his residence and told police that rented TVs, tools, jewelry, a shotgun and electronics had been stolen. During an investigation however, it was found that some of those items, including two large-screen TVs, tools and a trailer, were sold to Phil Johnson for pills and money, said Alamance County Assistant District Attorney Lori Wickline.

Lemley also told his renters insurance company, State Farm, that some of those items had been stolen.

In August of 2010, State Farm was also informed that his car burned in a fire. Wickline noted that a later investigation found that he set that fire himself.

Adding to the list of things he was already pleading guilty to, Lemley stated that he sold appliances and scrap metal that was stolen from the property he was being evicted from to OK Sales on December 13, 2010.

As for the pain medicine and doctors, between December of 2009 and October of 2010, Lemley visited 15 doctor’s offices. From those doctors he received prescriptions for hundreds of dosages of oxycodone, hydrocodone and other controlled painkilling drugs, Wickline said.

In all, Lemley pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining property by false pretense, four counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud, three counts of felony conversion, two counts of insurance fraud and one count of burning personal property. In exchange for the plea, the state dismissed two counts of fraudulent disposal of mortgage property and four counts of giving a false report to police.

Superior Court Judge Michael J. O’Fogludha gave Lemley four 6-8 month sentences and five years of supervised probation with six months of intensive supervision. He was also ordered to pay restitution to State Farm in the form of $3,780.60, plus his court costs and fees. He must also receive a substance abuse evaluation.

Since Lemley had been in jail since his arrest in December, he was given credit for having already served that time.