Massachusetts Auto Fraud Ring Parked

Two local attorneys, two chiropractors, and three other individuals have been indicted by an Essex Grand Jury in connection with their reported involvement in staging fraudulent motor vehicle accidents in Essex County, Massachusetts.

The indictments stem from four separate staged motor vehicle accidents which were reported to have occurred between October 2002 and February 2003. The indictments are the result of an extensive joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, the Lawrence Police Department, and the Insurance Fraud Bureau. The seven defendants are Leo M. Lopez, age 28, of Lawrence; Omar Castillo, age 35, of Methuen; James C. Hyde, age 56, of Boxford; Socrates A. Delacruz, age 34, of Methuen; Michael H. Kaplan, age 46, of Hempstead, NH; Josue Jerez, age 28, of Lawrence; and Troy L. Wheelwright, age 40, of Amesbur.

In September 2006, a multi-agency investigation was initiated by the Attorney General’s Office, the Lawrence Police Department, and the Insurance Fraud Bureau’s (IFB) Lawrence Task Force, into alleged motor vehicle insurance fraud in the Lawrence area.

Authorities allege that Lopez, Jerez and Castillo recruited individuals to participate in staged motor vehicle accidents in the Lawrence area. Investigators determined that these accidents never actually occurred, but were reported to insurance companies as actually having occurred. The recruited participants would give their vehicles to Lopez, Jerez or Castillo, who would then damage the vehicles, so as to make it appear to the insurance companies that the vehicles had been involved in motor vehicle accidents.

Authorities also allege that two chiropractors, Michael H. Kaplan, with offices in North Andover, and Troy L. Wheelwright, who worked in Haverhill, participated in the scheme by recruiting individuals involved in these staged accidents and then submitting fraudulent insurance claims. Two area attorneys James C. Hyde, who practiced in Andover, and Socrates A. Delacruz, who practiced in Lawrence, were also allegedly involved in the scheme.

The two chiropractors and the two attorneys are alleged to have knowingly employed Lopez and Castillo to recruit claimants for these staged accidents, and then directed the recruits to the chiropractors and attorneys for unnecessary medical treatment and legal representation for accidents that never occurred. Both the attorneys and chiropractors allegedly submitted fraudulent injury claims and letters to the claimants’ insurance companies seeking payment for injuries they allegedly received in the staged accidents.