North Carolina Repair Shop Owner, Customer Charged with Fraud

A North Carolina automobile repair shop owner and one of his customers have been arrested and charged with insurance fraud.

State officials report that John Marvin Smith, III, of Robersonville, and Fronzie Griffin, of Williamston, have both been charged with one count each of obtaining property by false pretense, insurance fraud and conspiracy.

North Carolina Insurance Department criminal investigators allege that in July and August 2010, Smith, the owner of John’s Kustom Paint and Exhaust in Robersonville, and Griffin, a customer at the shop, submitted an inflated auto repair bill for work done on Griffin’s car to Farm Bureau Insurance of North Carolina for a vandalism claim. As a result of the claim, Griffin received payments from the insurance company totaling $2,318.

Investigators accuse them of submitting a bill to the insurance company for substantially more than the actual costs of the repair to defraud the insurance company and split the extra money.

Smith and Griffin were arrested and processed on Sept. 28 in Martin County; each was placed under a $50,000 unsecured bond.