Massachusetts Man Guilty in Auto Fraud Ring

A Worcester, Massachusetts man pled guilty in Worcester Superior Court in connection with his involvement in an insurance fraud scheme that included the staging of two motor vehicle accidents in Worcester.

Eric Bonnette, age 25, pled guilty to charges of Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud (2 counts), Conspiracy to Commit Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud (4 counts) and Assault and Battery. Following a change of plea from not guilty to guilty, Worcester Superior Court Judge John McCann sentenced Bonnette to three years to three years and one day in State Prison on the charges of Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud and two and a half years in the House of Correction, suspended for five years on the charge of Assault and Battery, sentences to run concurrent.

Following his incarceration, Judge McCann ordered Bonnette to serve a five year probationary term on the charges of Conspiracy to Commit Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud. Bonnette was previously indicted and arraigned with co-defendants Mercy Encarnacion, age 30, and Damaris Matos, age 40, both of Worcester, who have since pled guilty and were each sentenced to a two and a half year sentence in the House of Correction, six months to serve, with the balance suspended for five years on each charge, sentences to run concurrently.

The Attorney General’s Office commenced a three-month investigation after the matter was referred by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in June 2007. On various dates in May 2004, Bonnette, Encarnacion and Matos reportedly recruited individuals to participate in staged motor vehicle accidents. These individuals would then file fraudulent insurance claims against their auto insurance carriers, for injuries they claimed to have received in these accidents, and for lost wages due to their injuries. On one occasion, Bonnette was involved in a physical altercation with one of the individuals that participated in a staged accident, but did not want to file the false insurance claims.

The investigation led to indictments against Bonnette, Encarnacion, and Matos for conspiracy to commit motor vehicle insurance fraud in Middlesex. The investigation also developed information about several staged accidents in 2004 set up by Bonnette, Encarnacion, and Matos in Worcester County.

Indictments were returned against Bonnette, Encarnacion, and Matos on Sept. 21, 2007. On Oct. 4, 2007, the defendants were arraigned in Worcester Superior Court, at which time they entered individual pleas of not guilty and were released on personal recognizance. On March 7, 2008, Encarnacion and Matos each entered individual change of pleas to guilty to charges of Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud (2 counts) and Conspiracy to Commit Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud (4 counts) and were sentenced in Worcester Superior Court.

Following their incarceration, Encarnacion and Matos are ordered to serve five years of probation, during which they must submit to random drug testing, stay away from Commonwealth witnesses, and seek and maintain employment. This week, Bonnette entered a change of plea to guilty in Worcester Superior Court.