Lee Co. man, Moore Co. woman charged with insurance fraud
May 6—Two people are accused of staging a wreck in Lee County in an attempt to defraud an insurance company.
Yushawn Antonio Johnson, 24, of 5315 Arrowwood Circle, Sanford, and Elizabeth Jowana McCall, 24, of Aberdeen, were served with criminal summonses April 24, charging them with insurance fraud and attempting to obtain property by false pretense, according to a release from the N.C. Department of Insurance.
Both charges are felonies, the release said. Johnson and McCall were served with criminal summons on the charges.
On July 10, 2019, the two attempted to obtain an insurance claim payment from Repwest Insurance Co., the release said.
They claimed that Johnson was injured and his 2008 gray Infiniti G37 couple was damaged in a collision with a U-Haul truck, the release said.
The crash was staged at Fulton and Second streets in Sanford, a DOI spokesman said.
Agents from the DOI Criminal Investigations Division determined Johnson's car was already damaged and that the wreck was staged, the release said.
Johnson and McCall are scheduled to appear in Lee County District Court on May 26.
"Insurance fraud is a crime affecting everyone," Mike Causey, commissioner of the state Department of Insurance, said in the release. "Approximately 20% of insurance premium costs go to pay for insurance fraud."
Causey has more than doubled the number of special agents to investigate fraud and white-collar crimes, the release said.
Between 2017 and 2020, agents made 1,612 arrests on fraud charges, the release said.
