After a fender bender, one typically files a police report todocument what happened. When you are not actually in your car whenit is hit, however, filing a police report to support fraudulentinjury claims will not help your case.

When a GEICO-insured driver backed into an unoccupied vehicle in a St. Francisville, La. retail store parking lot,there was no damage to the vehicle at the scene. No police reportwas filed. However, the owner of the unoccupied vehicle, HonabeaCavalier, 31, filed bodily injury claims for her and her fivechildren a few days later and received a $500 payout fromGEICO.

Two others, Earl Barrow, 26, and Sandra Cavalier, 51, filedclaims with GEICO as well, alleging that they were in the vehiclewhen it was hit. As a precaution, Honabea Cavalier filed a policereport a month after the alleged accident to back up their claims.All she was doing, though, was backing herself into a corner.

Troopers determined that the vehicle had in fact been involvedin a collision, but that it was unoccupied at the time of theaccident. All three suspects were arrested May 18 on insurancefraud charges, though Honabea Cavalier has also been accused offelony theft and filing false public documents. If convicted, theyeach face up to 5 years in prison and individual fines of $5,000.