Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Agents began arresting 126 people and were searching 22 locations. Some of the 126 were named in indictments returned Wednesday; others were the subject of criminal complaints filed by the bureau.
Dubbed Operation Sudden Impact, the investigation began in November 1993, when the FBI learned that staged auto accidents were a significant crime problem throughout the United States. In earlier stages of the investigation, 328 people were arrested or indicted and 273 of them have pleaded or been found guilty.
FBI agents have used wiretaps and conducted 22 undercover operations in the case.
``Every American household is burdened with more than $200 annually in additional insurance premiums to make up for this type of fraud,'' said FBI Director Louis J. Freeh.
``Staged automobile accidents are a major contributor to the more than $20 billion a year property and casualty insurance fraud problem - out of an estimated $70 billion-$80 billion a year in health care fraud - and illustrate the subversion of the American health care system by unscrupulous medical providers and their partners in crime,'' Freeh said.
Significant staged accident problems have been uncovered in Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Denver; Columbia, S.C.; Houston, Indianapolis; Jackson, Miss.; Little Rock; Los Angeles; Miami; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Richmond; Sacramento; San Antonio; San Francisco; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and Portland, Ore., Freeh said.
- Associated Press
by CNB