Couple charged with insurance fraud

READING

A Flying Hills couple faces insurance fraud and conspiracy charges after state authorities alleged they each provided false information to insurance company representatives about a two-vehicle accident last year in Reading.

Leonard D. Thaon Jr., 25, and his girlfriend, Mariama Embola-Sierra 27, both of the first block of Tee Circle, each waived a preliminary hearing Dec. 1 before District Judge Alvin B. Robinson in Reading Central Court. They remain free to await further court action.

The attorney general’s office filed the charges Nov. 2 after getting a fraud referral from the insurance company.

According to the probable cause affidavit:

On Oct. 5, 2022, a Reading woman filed a claim with Progressive Insurance Co., reporting that her car was rear-ended by a pickup truck owned by Embola-Sierra.

The woman told a claims representative that a vehicle was double-parked on North Fourth Street, blocking her lane, so she signaled and shifted into the right lane. As she did, her car was struck in the rear by Embola-Sierra’s truck, damaging the car’s bumper.

There were no injuries, and police were not called.

She said a man and a woman were the only occupants of the truck. The man, who identified himself as Thaon, was the driver, she said.

He got out of the truck and provided insurance information for the vehicle, saying he was the owner’s husband. He also provided his phone number.

However, when a Progressive representative interviewed Thaon by phone the next day, he claimed Embola-Sierra was driving when the accident occurred and that their two daughters were the passengers.

Interviewed the same day, Embola-Sierra confirmed she was the driver and not Thaon, who was listed as an excluded driver on her policy and thus not covered. She also confirmed her only passengers were the two girls.

She said she called Thaon after the accident and he responded to the scene and spoke on her behalf with the occupants of the other vehicle due to her anxiety.

Progressive determined Thaon driving at the time of the accident and because he wasn’t covered by the insured, the company denied the other driver’s claim for coverage of the loss, estimated at $7,653.

A fraud investigation was referred to the attorney general’s criminal law division.

On Sept. 12, Special Agent Victor Rivera interviewed Embola-Sierra in the office of her lawyer, Kevin Feeney.

She admitted she conspired with Thaon to lie to the claimant’s insurance company about who was driving because they knew Thaon was not covered under the policy.