Police said Chandler issued fake insurance certificates under the names of Nationwide Mutual, Citizens and Meridian, using a home computer to create realistic-looking documents. He pilfered the names of local insurance agencies to place on the certificates.
Chandler, who also went by the name "Clarence," was arrested in April and has pleaded guilty to several counts of selling counterfeit insurance certificates and using a computer to commit a crime.
Police publicly revealed the scam Thursday as a way to reach drivers who may not know they have invalid insurance.
Investigators were alerted to the insurance fraud in April 2007, when Press columnist Tom Rademacher wrote an April 1, 2007, column, "Forty bucks for insurance? Seems shady to me." Rademacher wrote about "Clarence" after someone gave him a business card that professed "$40 Car Insurance Papers. Call Clarence 24/7." During conversations with Rademacher, Clarence admitted the papers were fake, but that someone would be "all set if pulled over" by a police officer.
Michigan law demands motorists be able to show proof of insurance to police officers if asked during a traffic stop. Proof of insurance also is required to secure plates or register a car with the secretary of state.
Car Insurance Papers
Car Insurance PapersPolice tracked down Chandler in July 2007 and took his computer to analyze, but at the time thought he had sold only a few certificates. The investigation became more urgent in January after a Walker crash that killed 88-year-old Marian Lewis, with her family filing a claim that ultimately showed the other, at-fault driver had invalid $40 insurance.
Walker Police Sgt. Keith Mankel said even he was fooled by the fake documents.
"They are very good (looking) documents," he said. "When I looked at it, I thought it was valid."
Chandler attached fliers to telephone poles to advertise, handed out nameless business cards and ultimately came up with a card for out-of-town people, telling them how to obtain papers in "about 2-3 days" by sending $40 cash or a blank money order to a post office box. The card advised people to include their name, address and vehicle identification number.
Mankel said a lot of Chandler's customers came through word of mouth. Chandler changed his cell phone number and business cards at one point when he thought police were catching on to him, Mankel said.
Most customers believed they were getting a deal on valid insurance. Others may have known the certificates were fake, Mankel said.
While police have not charged the driver in the fatal crash with not having insurance, Mankel could not guarantee that others driving with counterfeit certificates would escape a citation. If they are in a crash, they could be held civilly liable in court, police say.
Jill Schuitema, an agent with Dalessandro Agency Inc., of Kentwood, said it's hard to imagine anyone could think $40 insurance was legitimate.
Car Insurance Papers
Car Insurance Papers
Car Insurance Papers
Dalessandro was one of the names that Chandler put on some of the fake certificates. The agency received about a dozen calls from people wrongly thinking they were insured there, Schuitema said.
One couple came in recently with their documents.
"We simply had to tell them they had no coverage," she said.
Barb Sampson with the Dale Gould Insurance Agency, another name forged onto the documents, said legitimate agents have been victimized, too. She worries Chandler's fraud will give a bad name to her family's business.
She has referred all cases of fake certificates that come into her office to the state's insurance bureau. One man in his early 20s came into her office Wednesday looking for his renewal certificate on what turned out to be fake paperwork.
"It is scary. These poor people. The way things are right now with the economy, I think people just wanted to believe the insurance was valid," she said.
Police said cell phone records obtained for Chandler showed 428 different numbers for what police think were customers. They think he sold even more documents.
Anyone who believes Chandler sold them insurance should call the Kent County Victim Services Department at 632-5400.
Meanwhile, Cardosa estimates she probably spent more than $500 with Chandler because, in her case, he collected the $40 twice a year and she was paying for three cars at one point.
"I don't expect to get it back," she said.
Chandler, sentenced to a year in jail in 1997 for attempted receiving and concealing, will be sentenced Aug. 25 for the insurance fraud. He is out on bond.
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