Through the efforts of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) led by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler, four individuals face felonies in Pierce County for auto insurance fraud.
Spanaway native Joseph Brumbles, 32, was charged with filing a false insurance claim. According to the investigation, Brumbles’ auto insurance policy on his 2011 Ford F-150 was canceled after he had failed to pay in April 2014. He then called
State Farm insurance to reinstate his policy on April 14, then filed a claim not long after his insurance was reinstated. Brumbles claimed that he rear-ended another vehicle. Metadata on the collision photos reveal that they were taken a few minutes before Brumbles had his insurance reinstated. He filed a claim for over $6,000 in damage to his truck and more than $670 in damage to the vehicle he hit.
Andrew Borneman, 34, of Puyallup was indicted with one count of filing a false insurance claim and one count of attempted first-degree theft. Borneman was driving a 1972 Chevrolet truck uninsured in August 2014 when he hit two parked vehicles, the investigation noted. Borneman’s wife purchased insurance for the truck not long after the collision. Several hours later, Borneman filed a claim for about $16,000 in damage to the first vehicle he hit and nearly $3,600 in damage to the second vehicle involved. Esurance—the company Borneman’s wife had purchased insurance from—denied both claims and referred the case to the SIU.
Thirty-two (32) year old Vizitiv Vyacheslav from Tacoma was charged with one count of first-degree identity theft and one count of filing a false insurance claim. Vyacheslav canceled the insurance on his 2002 Acura RSX on Dec. 10, 2014 since he was set to sell it, investigations said. Vyacheslav was later involved in a collision with his car on Dec. 24. He then reinstated his policy with
GEICO on Dec. 25 and later submitted an online claim on Dec. 27 under his mother’s name. His “mother’s” claim was that the car was damaged while parked at his apartment complex. The next day, Dec. 28, the owner of the vehicle he hit Dec. 24 filed a claim with
GEICO for the damage to her car, noting the license plate number of the Acura.
GEICO referred the case to the SIU.
Susan Whittecar, 30, of Fife was indicted with one count of first-degree attempted theft and one count of filing a false insurance claim. With her 2004 Volvo, Whittecar rear-ended a 2013 Ford CMAX—which, in turn, rear-ended a 2002 BMW—on Interstate 5 on Sept. 5, 2014, the investigation noted. Her husband renewed the lapsed policy on her vehicle with Esurance about 20 minutes after the collision. On Sept. 8, the insurer was contacted by the owners of the two other vehicles involved in the incident and received a copy of the collision report by Washington State Patrol. While Whittecar filed a claim for the damage on her car on Sept. 15, Esurance denied the claim based on the information from the collision report. The insurer then referred the case to the SIU.
