Two Charged with Insurance Fraud, Conspiracy after Faking Injuries

We’ve been over this before.  If you were in a bus accident, we are very sorry; if not, don’t say you were.  Chances are, you will be caught on a security camera.

According to philly.com, two Philadelphia residents have been charged with insurance fraud after claiming to be injured in a minor accident on a SEPTA bus.

The District Attorney’s office said the accident was hardly noticeable though.

On February 17, 2011, a truck got a little too close to the bus and it clipped a side view mirror, which caused it to shatter.

According to Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for D.A. Seth Williams, no passengers had yet reported injuries immediately after the accident, there was no other damage to the bus, and no emergency crews were called to the scene.

Ashantai Pate, 25, and Timothy Barton, 46, were on the bus. Both filed injury claims. Pate said the force of the impact caused her to jerk and slam against a window, injuring her back. She presented SEPTA with $5,000 worth of medical bills. Barton said the accident caused whiplash triggering headaches and back pain. He presented the mass transit agency with a tab over $6,000 for 39 medical treatments, Jamerson said.

Apparently they didn’t notice the surveillance cameras that captured images of the passengers aboard the bus, showing that none of them even appeared to be phased by the incident.

Jamerson noted that the video showed them “talking to each other throughout the course of the ride and continue their conversation as the incident occurs without any change in disposition.” The footage also showed that no one was injured.

Pate and Barton were arrested by detectives from the D.A.’s insurance fraud unit. Along with the insurance fraud charge, each received additional charges of attempted theft by deception and conspiracy.

Jamerson wouldn’t name the attorney who had once represented the duo’s injury claims, stating that they can not name people who they haven’t charged.