MONTGOMERY COUNTY MAN JAILED IN AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE SCAM

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Darryl R. Hardy, 40, of the 9900 block of Forest View Place in Gaithersburg was sentenced in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County after having pleaded guilty to felony insurance fraud last October. That conviction followed a joint investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General, the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Maryland State Police. The Honorable D. Warren Donohue sentenced Hardy to ten years’ incarceration suspending all but three years of that sentence. Upon his release, he will be placed on five years probation and required to pay restitution.

In a statement of facts presented by the prosecutor at the time of the guilty plea, the court learned that Hardy had submitted numerous fraudulent automobile accident insurance claims totaling more than $29,000.00 between October of 2001 and March of 2005 wherein he reported that his vehicle had been damaged by debris falling from another vehicle, usually a commercial truck, when, in fact, no such incident occurred. Often, he also claimed that broken glass from the windshield had sprayed into his and/or his children’s eyes. In many instances, according to the statement, he did not even own the vehicle purportedly damaged. To effectuate his scheme, Hardy would submit altered or fabricated repair shop estimates or bills in support of his claims.