Mass. Man Pleads Guilty to Insurance Fraud

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston announced that “Anthony Snow, age 43, of 1810 Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to an Information charging him with six counts of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud.” He was accused of being a key participant in a scheme to defraud insurance companies involving staged or nonexistent automobile accidents.

“At the plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the Government’s evidence would have proven that on multiple occasions over a period of years, Snow and others engaged in a scheme in which they would falsely claim that vehicles (often rented trucks) were involved in accidents,” the announcement continued. “Snow would often use false documents, including fraudulent driver’s licenses and bogus automobile registrations, in order to obtain payments from insurance companies.”

It cited one incident in which the defendant and his associates had “obtained an insurance payment of $5,551.95 based on an accident claim involving a GMC vehicle that actually was in an impound lot on the date of the purported accident. In another claim, ‘Tony Robinson’ obtained a $5,000 insurance check after claiming his Mercury was struck by a rented vehicle operated by ‘Anthony Russell.’ Snow admitted at the plea hearing that he actually used both of these names. Thus, Snow had claimed that he had an accident with himself.”

It also cited another incident in which “Snow arranged to submit a fraudulent insurance claim in another person’s name based upon an accident involving a Cadillac and a rented truck. Law enforcement officers were conducting surveillance of Snow on the date of the alleged accident and observed both of these vehicles parked in front of Snow’s residence at the time that the alleged accident occurred. Agents would have testified at trial that no accident took place.”

The bulletin said Snow and others obtained over $200,000 through this scheme between 1997 and 2003. He was originally arrested on these charges on March 10, 2003, and has been in federal custody since then. Judge Saris scheduled sentencing for April 26, 2004. Snow faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each count.

A further investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Boston Police Department, and the Massachusetts State Police Compliance Unit, with the assistance of the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau, the New England State Police Intelligence Network (“NESPIN”) and the Pawtucket, Rhode Island Police Department is continuing. Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Farley of Sullivan’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit is the lead prosecutor.