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Judge rules that 23-year veteran Const. Carlton Watson was paid to provide accident reports that passed off bogus car crashes to collect more than $1 million.

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Peel police Const. Carlton Watson won a lottery jackpot in 2012. Watson was convicted Friday of numerous fraud charges in relation to an insurance scam.

He won the lottery three years ago, but a Peel Regional Police officer wasn't so lucky Friday when a Superior Court judge found him guilty on more than 40 charges of fraud, breach of trust and obstructing justice.

Const. Carlton Watson, 50, a 23-year veteran of the force, was paid in cash by two men, including a tow truck driver and manager, to provide accident reports that passed off staged or bogus car crashes as legitimate ones, as part of a scam that bilked insurance companies out of more than $1 million, Justice John Sproat said in his ruling Friday morning in a Brampton court.

Watson was found guilty of multiple counts of fraud, obstructing justice, uttering forged documents and breach of trust, in connection with the nine insurance claims dating back to 2010.

“Const. Watson was a public officer. The fraud was clearly in the course of his public duty, and he intended to commit fraud in the course of his public duty,” Sproat said.

Watson and his lawyer, Susan Jane von Achten, had no comment when leaving the Brampton courthouse.

Watson, who lives in Mississauga, admitted in testimony he prepared the accident reports without attending the scene and, in most cases, didn't speak to any of the drivers or passengers claiming to be involved in the crashes.

“The Crown alleges that Const. Watson was paid cash, typically $6,000 per (accident report) and well understood the (reports) were for fake accidents and to be used to defraud insurers,” Sproat said in his ruling, later writing, “I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Const. Watson was a knowing participant in the insurance fraud, and was paid for providing the (accident reports).”

Watson has been suspended with pay since he was arrested in the spring of 2011, following an investigation by the force’s Internal Affairs Bureau. Peel police will be reviewing his employment status following today's decision. Watson returns to court May 29 for sentencing.

Watson claimed he was never paid for preparing the reports and was doing it merely as a favour to friends, believing the crashes to be real and the information accurate.

But the judge ruled that much of the officer's testimony made no sense and that his police notes on the staged crashes were “on their face clearly deceptive.”

“I can find no innocent explanation for making deceptive police notes; recording a very short gap between accident time and report time and failing to enter tickets into the court system,” Sproat said. “They are, however, logically explained if Const. Watson is party to the fraud.”

Most of the Crown's witnesses who were listed as drivers and passengers in the collisions in question were “unsavoury witnesses,” having agreed to participate in an insurance fraud, the judge said.

Court heard that the Insurance Bureau of Canada was also involved in the probe into the nine 2010 motor vehicle collisions that were part of the case.

Insurers paid out more than $915,000 in claims related to the fake car crashes and incurred a further $271,931 in expenses for items such as independent medical exams, collision reconstruction costs and legal expenses, the court was told.

Michael Lake, an investigator with the Insurance Bureau whose focus is on “organized crime rings involved in insurance fraud,” said several people claiming to be involved in each of the crashes, many of which occurred in Brampton, pursued claims for accident benefits, including property damage claims, vehicle loss, physiotherapy and child-care claims.

The fraud involved staging of collisions, followed by placing insurance claims for damaged vehicles and injuries sustained during the impact.

Several insurance companies were defrauded, police said.

Crown prosecutor John Scott said the fraudulent claims total just under $1 million. Watson provided “motor vehicle accident reports” detailing information about the crashes, and facilitated the reporting of the accidents as legitimate collisions.

Insurance claims were made for vehicle damage and injuries to the drivers and passengers, court heard, with insurers paying out settlements after the accidents.

One of the people involved in an accident back in February 2010 was Kevin Clarke.

The married Brampton father of two was alone in his car when he skidded and broke the front axle on his 1999 Pontiac Grand Am. But when the tow truck company he contacted showed up, the driver told him that, for his insurance company to cover the crash damage, he would have to lie and say three other people, including his wife, were in the car at the time.

Though Clarke never called police, the tow truck driver got him to sign a police-issued motor vehicle accident report listing Watson as the investigating officer, showing that Clarke had sustained serious injuries in the crash. The document also indicated a different location for the accident, Clarke said.

While Clarke admitted during cross-examination by von Achten that he realized he was lying and possibly participating in something fraudulent, he said he simply wanted to get his car fixed. Insurance covered the repair of the car, and Clarke's wife was given $1,300 in accident benefits.

Also arrested in connection with the offences is First Canadian Towing manager and tow truck driver Wayne Isaacs, 49, of Brampton. He was charged with defrauding the public, and his case remains before the courts.

Watson won $275,000 in the March 12, 2012, Daily Keno draw.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/02/13/peel-cop-convicted-in-insurance-scam.html