High Quality Drama in Staged Accident

Two Indiana residents are facing felony insurance fraud charges for a staged car accident that should also get them nominated for an Academy Award for their dramatic roles in the incident which ended with two involved being airlifted from the accident site and flown to the hospital.

According to local news station WISHTV8, Katie Renee Johnson, 19 and Matthew L. Burkhart, 21 are also charged with two misdemeanor counts for false informing and criminal recklessness.

Authorities were called to the scene where they discovered a two-car collision on a rural road and found Johnson and another woman crying in agony over their supposed injuries from the accident which they were each airlifted and flown to a hospital for treatment.

Johnson and another woman were “crying and complaining of pain,” according to a probable cause affidavit. They were flown to hospitals in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne for treatment of what an investigator later called “extremely minor injuries.”

Investigators soon became suspicious after they learned that the other woman in the car with Johnson lived with Burkhart and it was later determined that one of the cars was stationary at the time of impact.  A probable cause affidavit states that Johnson admitted the accident was staged and told authorities the other woman flown to the hospital hit the car at approximately 40 MPH.

Johnson was being held on Thursday in Blackford County on a $2,000 cash bond and Burkhart is being held on a $1,500 cash bond and he will appear in court on Monday.  The other two supposedly involved have not be charged as of Thursday, but will more than likely face similar charges for their supporting roles in this very dramatic scheme.