Funeral director, assistant charged with insurance fraud
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A Donora funeral director and his assistant are facing allegations they submitted fraudulent work records for that employee to receive more than $2,000 in claims from an insurance company following vehicle accidents.
The state attorney general’s office last week filed theft and fraud charges against Bryan L. Lawson, 51, and Karl Jackson, 58, the owner of House of Jackson Memorial Chapel in Donora, court records show. They also are charged with submitting false insurance claims.
Investigators allege the men conspired to acquire the money from February 2010 to November 2012 through the use of false time sheets and work schedules for Lawson that allegedly were given to Donegal Insurance Co., which insured him when he was involved in two vehicle accidents. Donegal paid Lawson under his lost wages coverage.
In the first claim, Lawson, of 645 Fourth St., Donora, received the maximum wage loss payout of $25,000 between February 2010 and October 2011 over injuries he suffered in a vehicle accident on Route 837 in Carroll Township, the affidavit indicates. Also, it said that in February 2011, Lawson increased the wage-loss benefits in his auto policy with Donegal to $50,000.
Lawson reportedly was working full time in February 2010 at Spartan Health Surgical Center in Monongahela as a housekeeping supervisor and part time for Jackson, of 546 Thompson Ave., Donora.
Lawson’s time card records from Spartan and Jackson Memorial Chapel that were submitted to Donegal under the February 2010 claim showed him working 128 hours at both locations at the same time, the affidavit alleges.
Lawson was injured again in a two-vehicle accident in October 2012, six months after he was laid off from Spartan, the record shows, and Jackson allegedly agreed to submit to Donegal records suggesting Lawson had been working full time at the funeral home and was paid $2,400 a month.
The men were arraigned Thursday before District Judge Mark Wilson and released on $5,000 unsecured bonds. They are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before Wilson at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 23.