The grainy videotape outlines the entire insurance scheme: Two Union County, Ill. couples repeatedly slamming a van into a large tree.
They’re obviously enjoying the fun. It’s party time, and they’re laughing and frolicking as the men take turns ramming the hapless van headfirst into a tree while Margaret Dillavou records each collision on her video camera.
Four times the van hits the tree. The front end rapidly disintegrates with each crunching blow. It seems Robert and Theresa Hammond owed Dillavou back rent on their home. The Hammonds figured they’d wreck the van, make an insurance claim for the damage, then haul in enough insurance money to square away their debt.
Having too much fun
So the Hammonds plus Dillavou and her boyfriend Paul Gaines held their four-wheeled fraud party. Obviously having way too much fun, the couples videotaped their demolition of the van, one loud crash at a time.
After they pounded the van’s front end into scrap, Theresa told Progressive Insurance she’d swerved to avoid a dog in the road, then lost control and hit a tree. Well, at least the tree part was true. She received $4,300 in insurance money to help pay off their debt, and Dillavou soon lost track of the video.
The episode seemed consigned to the dustbin of fraudulent insurance claims that go undiscovered each year.
But the couples didn’t count on Dillavou’s marital problems.
She was having an acrimonious divorce, and her estranged husband received a stack of videotapes in the divorce settlement. He was viewing the tapes one day, and the fraud party flickered onto the screen. He was uninvolved in the con, but immediately knew he was witnessing a scam in action.
Video exposes scam
He handed the tape to police, and Illinois prosecutors had a once-in-a lifetime fraud case they could only dare dream about. An entire auto scam was laid out in living color, complete with crunching sound effects and derisive laughter when the van blasts into the tree.
The four schemers didn’t have a prayer when confronted with the evidence. They quickly pleaded guilty, repaid the stolen insurance money plus a fine, and received two years of probation.
But perhaps the foursome’s biggest punishment was that they became a national laughingstock.
The video quickly leaked out to television. News and talk shows endlessly replayed their scheme to incredulous viewers. The tape became a cult hit on the Internet as well.
"It appears they were having a party…" State’s Attorney Allen James told reporters. "We'd like to educate people you can't do this, but we may end up educating people you don't videotape yourself committing a crime."
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