An elaborate insurance fraud scheme that used dead deer to fake car accidents was broken up by police, resulting in the charges of 41 people.
Ronald Galati Sr. is accused of running a $5 million scam out of his auto body shop in Philadelphia, Pa. Also charged are Galati's wife, son and daughter, several insurance adjusters, tow truck drivers, a city official and a police officer.
District Attorney Seth Williams said that Galati coached customers to claim they'd struck a deer rather than a car. That way, insurance companies would consider them “no fault” accidents and pay the claims without raising the customers' premiums.
According to investigators, Galati stored deer carcasses, blood and fur in the back of his shop to use as props.
Auto insurance fraud has drawn the attention of the provincial government and insurers, in Ontario particularly, where insurance companies have been told to meet a 15 per cent premium cut by 2015. Recommendations from last year’s provincial Anti-Fraud Task Force included a clamping down on the towing industry, and health care clinics that fraudulently bill the system.
Defence attorney Anthony Voci said he couldn't comment specifically on the charges because he hadn't seen the grand jury presentment but that his client is innocent until proven guilty.
