West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner 2009 Annual ...

James R. Hiroskey Jr., age 25 of Logan – as part of a plea deal – pleaded guilty to a reduced
misdemeanor charge of workers compensation fraud for attempting to secure benefits in an amount
greater than he was entitled. Mr. Hiroskey Jr. was originally indicted by a Kanawha County Grand
Jury on November 14, 2008 on one (1) felony count of making a false statement or a report to an
insurance company, and one felony count of attempting to secure benefits in an amount greater than to
which he was entitled. Mr. Hiroskey Jr. worked as a plumbing sub-contractor at The Hiroskey
Corporation, in Whitman. After a thorough investigation by the Offices of the Insurance
Commissioner’s Fraud Unit, Mr. Hiroskey Jr., admitted to an investigator that he had in fact
exaggerated his injuries in order to secure a larger disability rating. Mr. Hiroskey Jr. was sentenced
immediately to twelve (12) months of supervised probation, and forty (40) hours of community
service.
Aaron D. Brown, age 42 of Welch, plead guilty on April 15, 2009 to one (1) felony count of filing a
fraudulent claim to an insurance company and was sentenced to one (1) to five (5) years in the state
penitentiary, which was then suspended in lieu of five (5) years probation and restitution. As part of
the plea agreement, Mr. Brown was ordered to pay restitution to Gallagher Bassett Services in the
amount of $7,000 and $3,933.99 to Nationwide Insurance Company, as well as all court costs. Mr.
Brown perpetrated multiple “slip and fall” accidents as well as “staged foot runovers” at the Elks
Country Club just outside Princeton in February of 2005 and Gary’s Market in Blue Well in August of
2006 in order to collect money from insurance companies.
In an unrelated case in McDowell County, Mr. Brown also plead guilty on January 27, 2009 to four (4)
felony counts of fraudulent claims to an insurance company, and one (1) felony count of obtaining
money by false pretenses, another eleven (11) felony counts were dropped in exchange for the guilty
plea. Mr. Brown was sentenced to one (1) to five (5) years in the state penitentiary, which was then
suspended in lieu of five (5) years probation, mirroring his sentence in Mercer County. He also agreed
to pay restitution in excess of $21,000 to multiple insurance companies and medical providers.
Jeffrey L. Harris, age 54 of Alderson, plead guilty on January 30, 2009 in Kanawha County Circuit
Court to one (1) felony count of failure to pay workers compensation and one (1) felony count of
failure to subscribe to workers compensation and was sentenced on April 21, 2009. The Honorable
Jennifer Bailey sentenced Mr. Harris to five (5) years probation and ordered him to make restitution in
the total amount of $28,571.73 to the State of West Virginia Office of the Insurance
Commissioner/West Virginia Workers’ Compensation (Old Fund). In exchange for Mr. Harris’s plea,
the additional fourteen (14) felony counts against him were dismissed. Mr. Harris is the owner and
operator of Vintage Specialty Flooring Incorporated, located in Alderson. On a separate non –fraud
case the defendant presently owes the sum of $57,170.06 to the Offices of the Insurance
Commissioner. As this is presently an open case, the total amount may increase depending on claims
filed by claimants. In this case, the Judge ordered the defendant to make payment arrangements with
the Accounts Payable Division of the Insurance Commissioner to resolve that obligation, as well.
Jeffrey F. Peek, age 34 of Pinch, was indicted on six (6) felony counts of workers compensation fraud
in November 2008, plead guilty to one (1) felony count of workers compensation fraud in exchange for
the other charges being dismissed. Mr. Peek was sentenced to two (2) years probation and will be
required to pay restitution to all affected entities. Mr. Peek filed claims for workers compensation
benefits between 2004 and 2005 reporting that he worked for employers for whom he was not actually
employed on the dates of reported injuries; as a result incurring debts with various medical vendors
that were subsequently never paid.
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