June 28, 2013 at 4:46 p.m.
Federal grand jury indicts Henricks for insurance fraud
Federal grand jury indicts Henricks for insurance fraud
John E. Henricks III, owner of the body repair shop Custom Collision as well as area car towing businesses, was charged earlier this month in Oneida County Circuit Court with four different felonies after a search warrant was executed at his business June 3.
He now faces a maximum penalty of 62 years in federal prison if convicted of the four counts in the federal indictment filed Wednesday - three counts of mail fraud and one count of identity theft.
The indictment alleges that Henricks, 42, 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.
A federal grand jury is also alleging 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 fall under federal codes related to mail fraud.
Arraignment on the charges is set for July 18.
Prior to that date, Henricks is scheduled to appear in Oneida County Circuit Court for a motion hearing July 3 where he faces four felonies. Those charges are related to alleged fraudulent claims in which Henricks received nearly $100,000 from insurance companies.
Henricks is motioning the court for the return of two tow trucks that were seized by the Oneida County Sheriff's Office as part of the June 3 search warrant. Investigators have indicated they plan to keep the trucks until the case against Henricks has been resolved.
In the motion Henricks' attorney, James Runyon, argues that photos of the trucks can be taken for any evidentiary purposes investigators might need. According to the motion, one of the trucks has a lien on it and the lienholder has requested Henricks surrender the vehicle. The other truck is the only one Henricks has that is capable of towing large commercial vehicles or other heavy-duty trucks.
Runyon argues that keeping the trucks in the possession of the sheriff's office "would result in economic harm" to Henricks and would "jeopardize the rights of the lienholder."
In addition to the two trucks, investigators seized dozens of boxes of files, computers, a digital camera and two cell phones when the search warrant was executed earlier this month.
Kyle Rogers may be reached at [email protected].
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