Officials: Baum helped friend file false report
Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
A Camden County man has been charged with insurance fraud after state investigators say he and another man filed a false insurance claim on a stolen scooter.
John Wesley Baum, 30, of the 100 block of N.C. Highway 343 South, was arrested Monday, a press release from the N.C. Department of Insurance states. He was charged with one count of felony conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses.
A second suspect, Jose Martin Reta, 41, of the 300 block of East Broad St., Elizabeth City, is awaiting indictment in the case, the press release states. Reta is expected to be charged with obtaining property by false pretense.
According to Insurance Department officials, Reta claimed in a police report last November that his Kywco scooter had been stolen. In fact, Reta had given the scooter to Baum, who helped file the false police report, the release states. Reta then collected $4,000 from an insurance claim.
The alleged scheme came to light, the release states, after an officer with the N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles located the scooter while checking vehicle registrations.
The DMV License Theft Bureau assisted the Department of Insurance with the investigation, the release states.
Baum was charged at the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office. He was released after promising to appear in court.
Comments
By To Virginia
Mar 28, 2008 3:53 PM | Link to this
You call them retards. Have you read their medical records? Are you a doctor that can diagnose someone with such an illness? That word "retard" or stereotyping people as "retards" is just ridiculous. Are you aware that thousands of people in this state are diagnosed with mental retardation and people like you that like to throw the word around loosely can really damage someone's self esteem? I mean seriously! It's nonsense for such ludacris behavior and calling people names. Retardation is an illness and not just a word to call someone because you feel as if it's suits them. Some people should really think before they use such words loosely because it does hurt other's feelings that can't help the way they are because they were born that way or had a tragic accident. What's your excuse?
By Virgina Stafford
Mar 27, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this
I hope they both go to JAIL what retards
By Virgina Stafford
Mar 27, 2008 3:16 PM | Link to this
I hope they both go to JAIL what retards
By So
Mar 26, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this
The article has it worded wrong which will be brought to the inspectors attention. And it's quite funny how only bits of the story are told. I guess that's just to make people look guilty. What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty anyway?
By Art Simmons
Mar 25, 2008 11:33 PM | Link to this
Good grief! I can't BELIEVE anyone can be that stupid! How can someone NOT know a DMV inspection would turn up the vehicle's new owner? Thank God for dumb crooks. :)
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