Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023:
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana has announced the sentencing of two more individuals for their roles in a widespread scheme to stage crashes with tractor-trailers and defraud trucking and insurance companies as a result.
On Sept. 27, Joseph Brewton 57, of Houma, Louisiana, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud. Brewton was also ordered to pay $554,638.73 in restitution.
According to court documents, Brewton was a passenger in a staged collision in August 2015. After the crash, he recruited family members and friends to participate as passengers in other staged collisions with tractor-trailers on March 27, 2017, and May 11, 2017.
The passengers in these collisions filed fraudulent lawsuits falsely claiming that the tractor-trailers were at fault. Through this scheme, Brewton caused a loss of approximately $392,742.77.
On Oct. 24, Roderick Hickman, 52, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was also sentenced, following a guilty plea to Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud,. Hickman was sentenced to 3.5 years (42 months) in prison and ordered to pay restitution of approximately $5.7 million. He will also be on supervised release for three years following his prison sentence.
According to court documents, on March 27, 2017, Hickman, along with four other defendants, intentionally collided with a tractor-trailer at the intersection of Chef Menteur Highway and Downman Road and then fled the scene.
