A Wash. auto glass company owner was less than transparent with his cost reports to insurers, and now he faces some serious charges as a result.
Michael Alan Perkins, 43, is the owner of Autoglass Express Inc., and Premier Auto Glass, LLC, which are run out of Perkins' Burien, Wash. home. Between the two companies, Perkins was doing a lot of business, but it was Autoglass Express that caught some attention. Lynx Services, a third-party administrator that handles glass claims, conducted a random search of its database, which turned up an unusually high percentage of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) glass being installed in cars undergoing work by Autoglass Express.
State Farm was tipped off to the scheme by Lynx Services, and investigators began contacting policyholders, inspecting the recently installed glass and comparing that to the bills. State Farm turned the case over to the insurance commissioner's Special Investigations Unit, which saw right through the scheme. SIU obtained search warrants to seize more than 50 boxes of invoices and hard drives belonging to Perkins' companies.
The investigation revealed 4,840 instances in which the company told insurers that higher-priced OEM glass had been installed, when workers were actually installing lower-cost aftermarket glass. In one case, an insurer was billed $1,082.06 for a windshield that actually cost $144.83. This example was only one of many, though.
Washington state's anti-fraud unit, which spent months combing through more than 10,000 records, found $1,520,234 worth of deceptive bills sent by Perkins' companies between September 2005 and December 2009.
"We found instances in which companies paid full price for car windows that actually came from auto wrecking yards," said State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. "One company was billed more than $1,000 for a Toyota windshield that actually cost $92."
Perkins now faces three counts of first-degree theft for the more than $1.5 million in stolen funds. While punishment hasn't yet been decided, it's pretty clear that after putting customer safety on the line, whatever Perkins gets is well-deserved.
See also: Just Desserts
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