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John Paul Reis, 56, of Newtown Township, turned himself in on Thursday, Aug. 25, on charges of insurance fraud, deceptive business practices, forgery, and theft by deception, all third-degree felonies, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.
The charges come after a four-year investigation by county detectives that began in Sept. 2018, after they received a referral from officials with Erie Insurance who claimed that the Chalfont Collision Center on Park Avenue was purposely causing damage to customers' vehicles to raise insurance estimates.
Erie Insurance was just one of four insurance companies that Reis scammed over several years.
The investigation found that in order to do this, Reis would wipe a compound mixture onto the body of several vehicles and sometimes hit them with a hammer, making it look as if the vehicles were involved in an accident, so he could bill insurance companies for more money, authorities said.
Because Chalfont Collision Center was a direct repair center for Erie Insurance and numerous other insurance companies, the business was verified and authorized to write estimates and complete the repairs, among other responsibilities, bypassing the repair time for customers, the DA's office said.
As the investigation continued, county detectives were able to get in contact with three other insurance companies who had falsified insurance claims from the business.
Those companies were Nationwide Insurance, CSAA Insurance Group, and Liberty Mutual Insurance. Investigators say all four insurance companies collectively identified 289 estimates that quoted inflated damages submitted by Chalfont Collision between 2014 and 2022.
The insurance companies identified $426,233 in fraudulent claims paid to the Chalfont Collision Center, including 185 by Liberty Mutual Insurance for $312,265, authorities said.
A search warrant was served on March 25 at Chalfont Collision, where detectives seized evidence that included relevant photos, files, and computers, they said.
“There is a tendency for some people to think of insurance fraud as a victimless crime,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said.
“That is until the financial losses from those fraudulent claims are passed onto us in the form of higher insurance rates. I commend our investigators and prosecutors in our Insurance Fraud Unit for holding Mr. Reis and his body shop criminally and financially accountable.”
Reis was arraigned by a judge who set bail at $150,000.
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