Baton Rouge Man Sentenced for Conspiring to Stage Automobile Accidents to Defraud Insurance and Trucking Companies

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that RODERICK HICKMAN (“HICKMAN”), age 52, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, arising out of staged automobile accidents with tractor-trailers occurring in New Orleans.

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.

HICKMAN was referred to attorneys who paid him and another co-defendant to stage the accident.  In some cases, the attorneys knew that the participants were uninjured but referred them to medical providers for treatment to increase the value of subsequent lawsuits.  In total, the victim trucking and insurance companies paid out $277,500.00 for these fraudulent claims.     

HICKMAN was sentenced to 42 months in the Bureau of Prisons by U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk and ordered to pay restitution of approximately $5.7 million.  He also will be on supervised release for three years following incarceration and must pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisiana State Police, and the Metropolitan Crime Commission with this matter.  The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Klebba, Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Rivera, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Carboni and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Long, also of the Financial Crimes Unit.