A Coward man who conspired with a former Olanta police officer has been sentenced in an insurance fraud case, according to a press release from the S.C. Insurance News Service.
James David Morris, 40, of 439 Chester St., pleaded guilty in Florence County to burning personal property to defraud insurer. Twelfth Circuit Court Judge Michael Nettles sentenced Morris to one year suspended to one year probation to end upon payment of restitution to State Farm Insurance Co.
Robert Brendon Smith, 29, of 428 Chester Road, Coward, pleaded guilty to burning personal property to defraud insurer March 2 in Marion County. Nettles sentenced Smith to three years in jail suspended to one year probation, 100 hours public service and the payment of $275 in restitution to State Farm Insurance Co.
A conviction on the charge carries a punishment of one to five years in prison.
Florence County sheriff’s deputies said Smith and his neighbor, Morris, set fire July 8 to a 2001 Dodge Dakota on Johnnie Lee Road in Coward, Sheriff Kenney Boone said in a previous report.
The truck was valued at more than $8,000, according to the S.C. Insurance News Service.
Investigators said the next day, Smith called central dispatch and reported the car stolen. When deputies arrived, Smith filed an incident report and signed an affidavit stating that he didn’t have anything to do with the vehicle’s disappearance, Boone said.
Arson investigators later found the truck and discovered that it had intentionally been set on fire by someone using an accelerant, the sheriff said.
The car was registered to Smith’s mother, but was routinely used by Smith and his wife.
Deputies think the suspects destroyed the vehicle because it needed some repairs to its transmission, Boone said.
Olanta Police Chief Mark Strickland said Smith resigned from the department July 16. Smith was employed at the department for about 10 months, the chief said in an earlier report.
Smith was arrested July 17 and charged with third-degree arson and falsely reporting a stolen vehicle, Florence County Detention Center booking reports show.
Morris was arrested the same day and charged with third-degree arson.
Smith later confessed to law enforcement officers to burning the vehicle with Morris because of the vehicle’s mechanical problems, and the claim to State Farm Insurance Co. was eventually withdrawn, according to the S.C. Insurance News Service.
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