LAWRENCE - Two local medical clinics and two local law firms have been named in the latest grand jury investigation into auto-insurance scams.
Named in court documents are Kaplan Chiropractic of Lawrence and Haverhill Family Chiropractic of Haverhill, as well as Lawrence lawyer Socrates De La Cruz and the Andover law office of Berger & Hyde. An accompanying police report states two men staged phony crashes and "brought the majority of their bogus victims" to these four businesses.
Repeated calls over the last two days to these four offices were not returned for comment.
This is the second grand jury to focus on auto fraud in the Merrimack Valley, a cottage industry of crime where middlemen known as "runners" get paid to steer accident victims to lawyers and chiropractors for cash.
The four businesses are not the subjects of this new grand jury, convened only a few weeks ago. The focus of the probe is on two alleged runners - Christopher Ortega, 28, formerly of Lawrence, and Leo M. Lopez, 26, a former Haverhill resident. The court documents described the men as "major runners."
"Our investigation has revealed that Ortega along with his cohort Leo Lopez were 'runners' who organized and set up numerous staged motor vehicle accidents in the area," states a report filed by Lawrence police Sgt. Mike Simard and Detective Ryan Guthrie. "Unscrupulous lawyers and chiropractors paid these 'runners' for bringing in clients."
One of the "paper accidents" being reviewed by the grand jury was a Dec. 20, 2002 crash that never happened. Investigators say one of the alleged drivers was in jail at the time and the car he was supposed to be driving was in a parking lot, waiting for repairs, according to its owner. Both denied involvement with that crash.
Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett's office has declined comment on the ongoing probe, which comes more than two years after the first grand jury convened in the auto fraud crackdown.
Of the 16 people originally indicted, two lawyers and a chiropractor have already gone to jail. Three chiropractors are awaiting trial.
Of the 225 individuals indicted in the three-year crackdown, four were former employees of Kaplan Chiropractic - including Ortega and Lopez. Two other people charged worked for Haverhill Family Chiropractic including Lopez's wife, who drove a van for the company, according to investigators.
Both De La Cruz and the office of Berger & Hyde has handled claims filed by several people charged with auto insurance fraud.
De La Cruz represented two clients who were indicted in late-2003 by a grand jury initiated by then-state Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly. His two clients were indicted in connection with a Nov. 11, 2002 crash that was staged in Haverhill on the Interstate 495 off-ramp connecting to River Street.
In that fake crash, one of the cars said to be involved was actually parked undamaged on a Lawrence street. The other car was taken to a Methuen auto body shop where a phantom driver smashed it into a concrete abutment. Eight people were initially indicted, including the auto body shop operator who went to jail.
Ortega and Lopez were later indicted in connection with the case. At the time of Ortega's arrest in May 2004, Reilly described Ortega as "the stager" of a phony accident.
Charges against Ortega and Lopez are still pending in the attorney general's investigation against the two runners - both were fugitives on the run.
Ortega was extradited from Florida this week after eluding investigators for nearly three years. Lopez was captured in Georgia last fall.
"If they decide to cooperate, they are going to implicate professionals - lawyers and chiropractors, who paid runners to bring them clients," Simard said yesterday.
Simard estimated the two alleged cohorts referred about 40 of the clients in cases being investigated by the task force.
Carlos M. Pinales, a "runner" who the fraud squad tracked down nearly three years ago in Allentown, Penn., turned out to be a star witness in the prosecution of Lawrence lawyers Charles Lonardo of Salem, N.H. and Jorge Elias, who were convicted last year.
"I regard Carlos Pinales as a mid-level runner, and his testimony was crucial in convicting two attorneys," Simard said. "Imagine if we get cooperation from two high-level runners."
