News

Man will serve 90 days for insurance schemes

By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
Published: December 13, 2008

SALEM — Just a few months ago, Tyler Parrish was forging letters from drug rehab programs in what prosecutors believe was an effort to avoid being arraigned on insurance fraud charges.

But his claim yesterday that he is now writing letters for fellow Middleton Jail inmates and helping them learn to read with Bible passages led a Salem Superior Court judge to shave a month off of his sentence.

Parrish, 30, a former Beverly and Peabody resident, pleaded guilty to charges of insurance fraud, larceny, forgery and making a false crime report during a hearing yesterday in Salem Superior Court.

Parrish admitted to trashing a Hummer H3 to get out of his $1,000-a-month car payments; forging a Salem police report claiming that a diamond engagement ring had been stolen when he was mugged on his way to propose; and repeatedly reporting that his ATM card had been stolen and used at local banks.

He was sentenced to a year in jail, with three months to be served and the balance suspended during three years of probation. Judge David Lowy said he originally intended to order that Parrish serve four months but reduced the time in custody after hearing how Parrish was working to help other inmates with literacy skills.

The judge said that shows that Parrish has come "a long way from the arrogance that this crime manifests."

But Lowy said he was troubled in particular by Parrish's forgery of a police report.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Michael Walsh was looking for a year behind bars for Parrish and another year of suspended jail time to hang over his head during his three years of probation.

"This was not an isolated incident," Walsh said in a sentencing memorandum. "The defendant perpetrated six separate crimes on different dates in the span of one year."

Trashed SUV

Parrish first came onto the radar of insurance investigators last year, after he made an accident claim on his auto policy just an hour after upgrading his insurance coverage.

They eventually discovered that Parrish had not only misstated the time of an accident involving the Hummer and another vehicle, he then proceeded to vandalize the SUV in an effort to make sure that it was "totaled."

They also learned that Parrish had filed a claim on his renter's insurance policy for a three-stone diamond engagement ring, which he claimed was stolen during a mugging, and that he had reported his ATM card stolen and then used by the thief — a claim that was debunked when police saw surveillance tapes of Parrish driving a Hummer up to the bank on the days he claimed his card was missing.

Parrish, questioned by investigators from the Insurance Fraud Bureau, confessed.

Then, when he discovered that he had been indicted, he began a game of cat and mouse with prosecutors.

He told Walsh that he was a patient at the exclusive Cirque Lodge program in Sundance, Utah, then sent what was an obviously forged letter purporting to be from the facility — despite a Florida postmark.

He then claimed to be in another facility in Florida, this time sending another suspect letter.

Eventually, Walsh got a warrant and sent state troopers to Florida to get Parrish and bring him back.

As part of his sentence, Parrish agreed to pay $1,783 in restitution to the state police for the cost of flying down and back to get him, and another $2,660 to the insurance companies and banks that paid out claims.

He'll be on probation for three years. During that time, he'll be barred from drinking and required to attend five Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week, hold down a job and submit to random urine screens.

Walsh told the judge that Parrish is also facing a civil claim from the finance company that held the note on the Hummer. They're looking for $34,000 from Parrish.

Parrish's lawyer, John Keenan, acknowledged that his client "has made several mistakes in judgment" but stressed that Parrish has been cooperative.

Keenan mentioned Parrish's efforts to help other inmates learn to read and then Parrish spoke up.

"I've been helping the inmates with things like writing letters home," he said. He also said he has been teaching them to read the Bible and understand God.

Parrish says he is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Endicott College.

Parrish's Facebook page, which includes several photos, claims that he is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University and describes him as a vice president of the Marriott hotel chain. At the time of his crimes, however, he had just lost his job as a recruiter.