Four charged with insurance fraud
Four Erie County residents have been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud after they allegedly dumped a sport utility vehicle into Lake Erie to collect on the car insurance, according to the state Insurance Department.
Paula Parent, 44, of Greenfield Parkway, Blasdell, leased the 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer and admitted she recruited Marc Poole, 34, of Seneca Street, West Seneca, to help her dispose of it so she could buy a less costly vehicle with better gas mileage, investigators said.
Poole then recruited cousins Derrick Smietana, 19, of Berg Road, Orchard Park, and Jonathan Smietana, 18, of Midshore Road, Blasdell, investigators said.
The arrests followed a joint investigation by the Insurance Department Frauds Bureau Investigator David A. Hahn, Detective Gary Chwojdak of the Buffalo Police Auto Theft Squad and State Police Investigator Eldred Green.
The Buffalo Police Underwater Recovery Team found the vehicle in the lake near Fuhrmann Boulevard on July 9, less than a month after Parent reported it stolen from her place of employment.
The SUV was found with its keys in the ignition and a rock attached to the gas pedal.
Poole was arrested on July 31, Parent on Monday and the Smietanas on Tuesday. 5. Parent and Poole also face charges of attempted grand larceny.
They all were arraigned in Buffalo City Court and released pending a future court date. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.
