Strasser
NEW ORLEANS – The first prison sentence has been handed out in the continuing investigation by the U.S. attorney into staged auto accidents designed to defraud trucking companies and insurers.
Peter Strasser, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, announced Jan. 22 that Mario Solomon, 48, of New Orleans has been sentenced to 21 months behind bars for his role as a “spotter” in a wide-ranging conspiracy involving attorneys, drivers, medical providers and car passengers. The ultimate goal was to ensnare big-rig companies into insurance fraud schemes, according to indictments filed by Strasser’s office.
Solomon was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As a spotter, he picked up fellow conspirator Damian Labeaud, the driver of a passenger car who collided with 18-wheelers during incidents in 2017. Typically, spotters also serve as accident “eyewitnesses” who give false accounts of what happened to police on the scene.