N.C. Authorities Indict Two Fraud Ring Members Implicated in 480 Bogus Crash Claims Since 1992

Frankie Louis Alston and Darin Antonio Mason have been indicted in connection with an alleged auto insurance fraud ring in Siler City, N.C. that filed at least 480 bogus auto crash claims in Chatham and Randolph counties since 1992. Insurance companies paid out an estimated $2 million on the claims.

Investigators said Alston, a Chatham County resident, the primary architect of the fraud ring, was indicted on two counts of being a habitual felon, three counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and four counts of conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses.

Mason, a Greensboro resident, was indicted on three counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and four counts of conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses.

A grand jury handed down 45 indictments in the case in April, and several defendants have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison.

Alston, in the Wayne Correctional Center, in Goldsboro, on unrelated charges, will be transferred to the Chatham County Sheriffs Office upon his release. Mason was arrested Monday at the Siler City Police Department and was released on bond.