Two men sentenced for mail fraud

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Two West Virginia men were sentenced today for mail fraud, Acting United States Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen announced.

Dallas Lewis, age 55, of Clarksburg, was sentenced to 92 months incarceration. Lewis pled guilty to one count of “Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud” in May 2017. Lewis admitted to conspiring with others to file false insurance claims from staged motor vehicle accidents. Lewis would then receive a portion of the insurance settlement in each filing. The crimes happened between January 2012 and August 2014 in Taylor, Harrison, and Marion Counties.

Lewis was ordered to pay $290,320.90 in restitution.

Charles Bonner, age 34, of Morgantown, was sentenced to 27 months incarceration. Bonner pled guilty to one count of “Mail Fraud” in May 2017. Bonner admitted to taking part in a staged vehicular accident in January 2012 in Harrison County. He also admitted to faking injuries from said accident and filing a false insurance claim, from which he, and others, received insurance settlements of approximately $101,500. Bonner also admitted his role in procuring an insurance settlement check in someone else’s name in the amount of $46,500.

Bonner was ordered to pay $152,603.64 in restitution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew R. Cogar prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The West Virginia Insurance Commission Office of Inspector General and the United States Postal Inspection Service investigated.

Senior U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley presided.