A La Center man has been charged in connection with insurance fraud investigated by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Special Investigations Unit.
Gary Lee Havens, 62, has been charged with attempted first-degree theft and perjury. He has been summoned to appear on the charges Oct. 21 in Clark County Superior Court.
Havens filed a claim with Pemco Insurance, claiming that his vehicle was broken into at the Seattle Airport Marriott in March 2011 while he was attending a conference, according to a press release from Kreidler’s office.
He claimed that 106 items, totaling $45,277 in value, were stolen from his vehicle and submitted receipts and photographs as proof that he owned the items, according to the press release.
But metadata embedded in the digital photographs allegedly revealed that seven of the photos he submitted as proof of ownership were taken in April 2011, a month after Havens filed his claim. The value of the seven items in the photos was $8,728; items included a camera bag, computer, nail gun and circular saw.
According to a police report filed by the King County Sheriff’s Office, Havens reported only four items as stolen on the day of the alleged break-in. He later said two of the items shown in the photos that were taken after the break-in were replacement items, which contradicted what he had told investigators while under oath, the press release said.
Kreidler’s Special Investigations Unit investigates insurance fraud and works with the Attorney General’s Office and local prosecutors to prosecute criminal cases. In 2013, the unit prevented more than $237,000 in losses in the state, according to the press release.
Consumers can report suspected insurance fraud at www.insurance.wa.gov/complaints-and-fraud/file-a-complaint.
