United States v. Perez

489 F.2d 51 (5th Cir. 1973)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The conspiracy involved a get-rich-quick scheme by the staging of fraudulent automobile accidents for the purpose of creating false personal injury claims. These claims would be submitted to the insurance carriers for the respective vehicles involved in the wrecks with the aid and contrivance of certain physicians and lawyers. Certain participants were known as 'recruiters'. The recruiters' function was to recruit others who assumed titles commensurate with their organizational function. There were the 'hitters', whose function was to drive the 'hitter' vehicle in each collision. Then there were the 'target' vehicles. The occupants of the 'target' were known as the 'driver' and the 'riders.' It was determined at the outset that pregnant women made exceptionally good riders as they could claim pregnancy-related injuries which would be both hard to disprove and easily settleable with the insurance carriers. An effort was made on the part of the participants to use vehicles and drivers which were covered by high limits of liability insurance. The 'hitter' vehicle would strike the 'target' vehicle either broadside or in the rear end. The occupants of the 'target' vehicle--the driver and riders--and occasionally some of those in the 'hitter' vehicle, feigning injuries, would be sent to a particular doctor and lawyer who would facilitate phony claims by creating a medical history for treatment of non-existent injuries and making a demand on the appropriate insurance company. Advances were paid by the attorneys to the 'riders' for whom allegedly false claims were being submitted. They were paid in either cash payments or loans from local financial institutions, co-signed by the attorney handling the claim. The usual advance ranging from $250 to $500, part was retained by the rider-claimant with the rest being distributed among the organizers, recruiters, and others who assisted with various aspects of staging the wreck. When the claim was ultimately settled with the insurance carrier, the proceeds would be applied to (i) repay the advancing attorney or in such cases, to liquidate the guaranteed bank loan and (ii) to pay the inflated doctor's bill, not infrequently, with kickbacks going to both the organizers and the participating attorneys in addition to their usual shares. This was a rinse-and-repeat operation with various Ds participating in different accidents across a wide geographic area. The United States mail was used. Ds were charged with a conspiracy to violate the mail fraud statute and some Ds were charged with violating the mail fraud statute. Ds were found guilty and appealed. D asserts that a variance existed between the indictment charging a single conspiracy involving multiple defendants and the proof which, at best they claim, revealed plural conspiracies involving multiple parties which, admittedly, overlapped upon one another in personnel.