PEABODY — Tyler Parrish had seemingly found a way out from under the staggering payments on his $45,000 2006 Hummer H3 — simply upgrade his insurance coverage, then report that the massive SUV had been in an accident, according to police.

After all, a similar scheme had worked a few months earlier, when Parrish claimed that the $1,400 diamond ring he was about to give his girlfriend was stolen during a robbery, prosecutors allege.

But things didn't go smoothly for Parrish, 31. Now he's behind bars, facing a string of forgery, insurance fraud and larceny charges brought by the attorney general's office after a nearly yearlong investigation.

That investigation turned up other instances of suspicious claims, including two reports that his ATM card had been stolen and used.

Parrish was arrested in Marco Island, Fla., last month and brought back to Massachusetts by state troopers on Tuesday evening. He is now being held on $30,000 bail, after pleading not guilty during his arraignment in Salem Superior Court.

Assistant Attorney General Michael Walsh said Parrish had taken a $45,806, six-year loan at 20.25 percent to buy the Hummer.

Soon, however, he could no longer afford the payments, which approached $1,000 a month. His lawyer, John Keenan, said Parrish had lost his job as a recruiter and "went into a financial free fall."

Keenan said Parrish was nearly $250,000 in debt, including $180,000 in student loans for his education at Wesleyan University and Endicott College and a large credit card debt.

Parrish was also dealing with a drinking problem, Keenan said.

Prosecutors say it was the accident claim on the Hummer that put Parrish under a microscope.

On July 3, 2007, around 9:30 a.m., Parrish called Arbella Insurance to add coverage for replacement transportation to his policy.

An hour later, he called back to say he had been involved in an accident between his Hummer and his girlfriend's father's Jeep, Walsh said.

"This action raised a red flag at Arbella," the prosecutor said.

Three days later, Parrish filed another claim with Arbella, saying his Hummer had also been vandalized.

Investigators later learned that the accident with the Jeep had actually occurred hours before Parrish called his insurance company and that he had also "trashed" the Hummer in an attempt to ensure that it would be totaled, Walsh said.

When the Insurance Fraud Bureau began looking into Parrish's history of claims, they found other oddities. In May, he had reported the loss of a $1,400 diamond engagement ring, telling his insurance company he had been robbed as he walked to a North End restaurant where he intended to propose to his girlfriend. He bolstered his claim with a police report he said he had filed with the Salem police.

That report turned out to have been forged, Walsh said, and the engagement ring, investigators learned, had been left at the home of his girlfriend's grandparents in Maine.

Investigators also learned that Parrish had twice reported that his ATM card had been stolen and used, and that he had been reimbursed by his bank.

When the investigators looked at surveillance tapes from the banks where the card had been used, however, they saw a man who looked "exactly" like the red-haired, slightly built Parrish, driving up in a Hummer just like the one Parrish owned.

When Walsh sent Parrish a court summons at his old Peabody address, it was forwarded to him in Florida. But Parrish insisted he was at the elite Cirque Lodge drug treatment program in Utah and would be there for a year.

As proof, Walsh later got a letter, purportedly from the drug program, which contained spelling and grammatical errors and unusual syntax. Walsh said the letter appeared "suspect." It didn't help that the letter had a handwritten return address in Utah — but a postmark from Fort Myers, Fla.

When Walsh and Parrish spoke again and Walsh pointed out his concerns, Parrish said he was now at a different drug program in Florida and faxed a similar letter purporting to be from that treatment center.

Walsh doesn't believe that letter is real, either. In fact, on Sept. 29, while Parrish was claiming to be in rehab, he applied for a Florida driver's license.

When Parrish failed to show up for his scheduled arraignment in Salem Superior Court on Oct. 22, Walsh got a warrant. Parrish was arrested at his parents' home on Nov. 5.

Keenan said his client went to Florida to spend time with his father, who has multiple sclerosis, and not to evade prosecutors.

"I think he was saying he was in Utah," Judge David Lowy said in response.

Keenan said he had not discussed that with his client but acknowledged "mistakes in judgment" by Parrish, who now wants to cooperate, according to the lawyer.

Parrish is due back in court on Dec. 9.