News

Man accused of insurance fraud

By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
Published: September 24, 2008

PEABODY — Prosecutors say Tyler Parrish wanted some of the nicer things in life: a new car, an engagement ring for his girlfriend.

And, they allege, he thought he'd found a way to finance them: through repeated attempts at insurance fraud.

Now Parrish, 31, of Peabody, is facing a string of insurance fraud, forgery and larceny charges in a 13-count indictment handed up Friday afternoon by an Essex County grand jury.

Parrish is scheduled to be arraigned in Salem Superior Court on Oct. 22.

Parrish first came to the attention of insurance company investigators last spring after a series of claims raised red flags at Arbella Mutual, the company that insured his car.

A year earlier, in July 2007, Parrish had added rental car coverage to his auto insurance policy.

Just an hour after adding the coverage, he called again to say he had been involved in an accident.

Then, while the car was waiting to be repaired, prosecutors in the attorney general's office allege, Parrish filed a false police report with the Beverly police, claiming that his car had been vandalized and reported the vandalism to Arbella, apparently hoping that the car would be totaled.

Instead, Arbella turned his case over to the Insurance Fraud Bureau, a private organization that works with insurance companies and prosecutors.

The IFB concluded that Parrish had misrepresented the timing of the crash so that he could qualify for the rental coverage, which he did not have at the actual time of the accident.

The discovery led to a closer look at some past insurance claims by Parrish, prosecutors say.

In May 2007, Parrish had filed an insurance claim that an engagement ring he had purchased was stolen as he was on his way to dinner in Salem. He bolstered the claim with a forged Salem police report.

He had twice claimed to banks that his ATM card had been stolen, in March 2007 and again the following July, and that someone had made withdrawals from his account.

On Friday, prosecutor Michael Walsh persuaded the grand jury to indict Parrish on four counts of felony larceny, three counts of insurance fraud, three counts of filing a false police report, forgery, attempted larceny and uttering a forged instrument.

Efforts to reach Parrish yesterday were not successful.