Texas Man Accused of Role in Accident-Staging Scheme

A suburban Dallas man has been arrested and charged with multiple fraud counts that accuse him of devising and participating in a scheme to stage fraudulent vehicle crashes.

A U.S. attorney’s office statement says Leroy Nelson was arrested Monday on six counts each of mail fraud and engaging in illegal monetary transactions. The 61-year-old Duncanville chiropractor is accused of scheming to defraud insurance companies out of $3.5 million by staging crashes.

The federal grand jury indictment says the drivers would make false insurance claims in return for cash payments.

If convicted, Nelson could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for each mail fraud count and 10 years in prison for each illegal monetary transaction count, plus restitution and forfeitures.

He remains jailed pending a Wednesday detention hearing.