Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens confirmed that on Feb. 3 seven suspected members of an alleged insurance fraud ring were detained.
The state’s Department of Insurance’s Fraud Division and Fire Investigation Unit held a joint investigation that revealed six individuals from Colquitt County and a Clayton County native purportedly staged over 24 incidents of fires, residential burglaries, and automobile vandalisms in order to commit insurance fraud between January 2013 and December 2015.
During that period, the seven received claim settlements from various carriers such as
Allstate,
Assurant,
GEICO and Georgia Farm Bureau totaling $392,000.
Moultrie, Ga. residents Ricky Lewis Forrest, 26; KaNaya McGee, 35; Diana McGee, 55; Cachea Jones, 25; Shikia Latimore, 21; and Lvariaus King, 24, were arrested and held in Colquitt County Jail. The other suspect, 49-year-old Doris Ann Buie of College Park, was detained in Clayton County Jail.
Each suspect is being held on charges of arson, insurance fraud, theft by deception, identity fraud, forgery and making false statements.
“Not only did these individuals endanger the lives of others by setting fires, they also committed insurance fraud, a crime that costs Georgians thousands of dollars each year,” said Hudgens.
