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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
A Minnesota man is finding out the hard way that the phrase “buyer beware” exists for a reason.
Bemidji, Minn., resident Mitchell Lewis Hill on Monday pleaded not guilty in a Beltrami County District Court to insurance fraud charges after allegedly trying to trick another driver and his insurer into paying for damage to his truck, according to a report in the Bemidji Pioneer newspaper.
On June 25, just a few hours after he had bought a used 2009 Chevrolet pickup truck, Mr. Hill allegedly told police that he had been involved in a hit-and-run collision with a white minivan and that one of the truck’s rear passenger doors had been damaged in the accident, according to the Pioneer.
However, the Minnesota state trooper who investigated the alleged crash said he couldn’t find any evidence of a collision at the spot where Mr. Hill claimed to have been hit, the Pioneer said. The trooper also reported that the damage to the truck was too high off the ground to have been caused by another car, the paper said.
Two weeks later, Mr. Hill told police that he believed he had located the van that had allegedly hit him, but the state trooper said he didn’t see any indication that the van had recently been involved in an accident, according to the Pioneer. Ultimately, the trooper spoke to the truck’s previous owner, who told him that he was the one who damaged the truck. The former owner said he struck a pole while backing out of a parking lot, long before Mr. Hill bought the truck.
Nevertheless, state police learned in September that Mr. Hill had obtained an estimate for the damage and was attempting to convince the owner of the van to pay for the repairs and had filed a claim with his own insurer, the Pioneer said.
After his arrest, Mr. Hill allegedly admitted to state troopers that the van had never hit him, but had come close. It was only after the near-miss that Mr. Hill allegedly discovered the damaged door, the paper said.