Charles Lonardo, of the Lawrence, Mass. area, participated in a massive game of make-believe for quite some time. This would be innocent enough, if he was a young boy with an active imagination, but he is in fact a 48-year-old personal injury lawyer who is not all that innocent.
His scheme was, at least at first, relatively simple. Lonardo paid runners to stage auto accidents. They would bring him the alleged victims, who would then file claims with insurance companies for the pain and suffering endured. The plan began to unravel, however, when a high-profile staged crash ended in the death of a 65-year-old woman.
The woman, Altagracia Arias, was killed in September 2003 in a car crash that police say she helped to plan in order to scam an insurance company. After the crash, following the trail of evidence back to Lonardo was made even easier for investigators when he just couldn't keep his mouth shut.
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