Worcester, Massachusetts — A former bodyshop owner in the U.S. has now pleaded guilty to 18 counts of insurance fraud for using mallets, sledgehammers and wood to cause more damage to customers’ vehicles in a case of insurance fraud.
Adam Haddad owned Accurate Collision in Worcester, and his security cameras caught him on tape purposely causing destruction to vehicles that were in his shop to get repaired. Haddad has now been sentenced to at least two and a half years in jail, with six months to serve, and he also has to pay $170,000 in restitution, along with three years of probation.
The state Insurance Fraud Bureau had started looking into Haddad’s business back in 2017, and state Attorney General Maura Healey who prosecuted the case said that the video footage of Haddad damaging vehicles was shocking to say the least.
“He’s stealing people’s money. He’s stealing from the insurers,” Healey said in an interview. “Honestly, when my investigators showed me the video, I couldn’t believe it. He was using all sorts of things, sledgehammers, mallets, pieces of wood to intentionally cause more damage to cars. And these are cars that customers had taken to him to fix.” (SOURCE WCVB)
Haddad not only purposely damaged vehicles but he also didn’t properly fix the vehicles that did come into his shop. Along with charging customers high storage fees, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Cotter, says that vehicle owners were overwhelmed because their vehicles weren’t getting fixed and they were spending a lot more money than they normally would have if they went elsewhere.
“For the individuals who owned the cars, the consistent theme through both the grand jury testimony and the interviews and conversations we’ve had is one of an overarching feeling of incredible financial and emotional stress,” Cotter said in court. (SOURCE WCVB)
Haddad was scheduled to report to federal prison on June 25.
