BISMARCK, N.D. – Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread today announced the recent insurance fraud charge filed against Joshua Kadrmas, of Mandan, ND. Kadrmas is scheduled for a first appearance in court on August 22 in Morton County.
“Insurance fraud is a serious crime with real consequences. It costs every American family on average $950 per year. This is why I have investigators on my staff who are vigilantly looking out for crimes of this nature,” Godfread said. “The Department is partnering with county state’s attorneys in prosecuting these offenses to effectively bring those we’ve found to have committed insurance fraud to justice.”
The Department’s report stated that Kadrmas indicated to his insurance company that he hit a deer while on his motorcycle causing in excess of $11,000 worth of damage. An investigation conducted after Kadrmas’s claim was filed determined that the damage done to the motorcycle was not consistent with striking a deer but instead appeared to have been caused by a hammer and/or a sander disk.
Insurance fraud costs consumers in the United States between $80-120 billion each year. It is the second most profitable crime in the United States behind only illegal drug sales. Examples of insurance fraud include but are not limited to:
- Deliberate attempts to stage an accident, injury, theft, arson or other type of loss that would be covered under an insurance policy (ie. setting fire to your home)
- Exaggerating a legitimate claim (ie. doubling the value of stolen jewelry)
- Knowingly omitting or providing false information on an insurance policy application (ie. purchasing a policy for a previously damaged vehicle and omitting the damage in the application to file a claim at a later date)