August 16, 2013 at 6:22 p.m.
Henricks accepts plea deal in federal insurance fraud case
Henricks, 43, was also facing four felony charges in Oneida County Circuit Court related to insurance fraud and identity theft. Oneida County District Attorney Mike Schiek moved to dismiss those charges Thursday as part of the plea deal in the federal case.
The federal indictment charged Henricks with four counts involving insurance fraud - three counts of mail fraud and one count of identity theft. The allegations involved insurance claims Henricks made through his former business, Custom Collision.
The business has since been sold and renamed.
Henricks entered a guilty plea to a single count of mail fraud Wednesday in federal court in Madison. Sentencing is scheduled for December.
The plea exposes Henricks to a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of the agreement, federal prosecutors are recommending the court give Henricks "the maximum available reduction for acceptance of responsibility" when determining the sentence.
Significant factors in determining that acceptance of responsibility will be Henricks' efforts to pay restitution and liquidate assets for restitution, the agreement states. The restitution amount will be determined prior to sentencing and will take into account all the losses incurred as a part of Henricks' fraudulent activities. Based on what was initially charged in the Oneida County case as well as the federal case, that amount will be at least $115,000.
The criminal case against Henricks began the morning of Monday, June 3 when investigators executed a search warrant at his business. The probable cause for the search warrant was information from two former employees who told investigators they had been involved in fraudulent insurance claims Henricks made in 2007 that netted him nearly $96,000.
The federal charges came about three weeks after investigators seized dozens of boxes of files, computers, a digital camera and two cell phones from the business.
Among the allegations in the federal indictment are that Henricks pretended to be one of his employees when describing a June 25, 2008 accident to an insurance company representative, which was a false claim. According to the indictment, Henricks received a check for $2,007.24 from the insurance company for the claim.
The indictment also alleges that between September 2007 and August 2008, Henricks used the same images of a damaged dragster to initiate claims with five different insurance companies. The indictment specifically refers to nearly $18,000 that Henricks received for insurance claims made on the dragster damage in August 2008. Because the money was received in the form of checks via the U.S. Postal Service, the alleged crimes fell under federal codes related to mail fraud.
Kyle Rogers may be reached at [email protected].
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