December 4, 2019
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Three men who failed to appear in King County Superior Court to face charges against them have been added to Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s insurance fraud most wanted list.
If you have information that may lead to their arrest, please contact your local law enforcement agency or Kreidler's Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU).
Edward Hudson and Colin Walsh each were charged with one felony count of filing a false insurance claim. According to the investigation, they filed a renter’s insurance claim with Amica Insurance for two bikes that they said were stolen from outside their Seattle residence. Amica paid them $1,013 for the Trek and Cannondale bikes they cited on the claim, which were valued at $500 and $2,900 respectively. Hudson later gave Amica a receipt for the Canondale showing a purchase price of $11,229 in 2014. The receipt was from a bike shop owned by a friend of Hudson’s that closed in 2004. Hudson later told investigators he didn’t own the Canondale bike. Amica referred the claim to Kreidler’s CIU.
Attawwaab Fard was charged with one felony count of filing a false insurance claim. According to the investigation, Fard bought a Progressive Auto insurance policy in November 2017 to cover his 2004 Chrysler Pacifica after his girlfriend was in a collision while driving it. He filed a claim for the damage, which Progressive denied for lack of coverage. Two weeks later, Fard filed a claim stating the car had been stolen off the street where it was parked near his residence. Police found the car near where it was reported stolen with the same damage that it sustained in the earlier collision. Progressive also denied that claim and referred both claims to Kreidler’s CIU.
Kreidler’s CIU investigates insurance fraud and works with the Washington State Patrol and state and local prosecutors on criminal cases. Insurance fraud costs the average family $400 to $700 per year in increased premiums. Insurance companies are required by law to report fraud to the commissioner.
Consumers can report suspected insurance fraud on the insurance commissioner’s website.