Las Vegas men held in hurricane fraud

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Las Vegas men held in hurricane fraud

By BY MARK F. BONNER

Advocate staff writer

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/2163237.html

Two Las Vegas men accused of conspiring to defraud insurance

companies and Hurricane Katrina victims of tens of thousands of

dollars were extradited to Louisiana on Friday, State Police

reported.

Pinckard, 49, and R. Rousseau, 40, were booked into

St. Tammany Parish Jail on multiple counts of insurance fraud,

conspiracy, burglary, criminal damage to property and theft, a State

Police news release said.

Before the storm, Rousseau worked for the Las Vegas-based water

removal service Aqua Man, which was owned by Pinckard, the release

said.

In an agreement with Pinckard, Rousseau left Aqua Man days before

Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast for employment with an out-

of-state private adjusting firm contracted by State Farm Insurance,

the release said.

He later was assigned to work claims in the Slidell and St. Tammany

Parish area, the release said.

Lt. Carpenter, supervisor of the State Police Insurance Fraud

Unit, said State Police and the National Insurance Crime Bureau were

made aware of the men's business practices by State Farm Insurance

after the company conducted its own investigation.

Investigators examined complaints from eight State Farm

policyholders in that area regarding the quality of work and the

billing practices of Aqua Man, Rousseau and Pinckard, Carpenter

said.

The release says Rousseau contacted State Farm policyholders during

the claim process to recommend Aqua Man as the company to rid their

homes of mold contamination.

Residents hesitant about using Aqua Man allegedly were threatened

with litigation for delaying the cleanup process, thereby increasing

the loss to the insurance company, the release said.

Once the homeowner authorized the work, the release says, Pinckard

would arrive at the residence in minutes.

Rousseau then would issue the policyholder a check for $5,000 to

begin work before instructing them to write a check to Pinckard from

their personal account for the same amount of money, the release

said.

Pinckard requested the residents make their checks payable to him

and not his business, claiming he did not have a bank account in the

area, the release said.

In reality, Carpenter said, Aqua Man had no business license or

permit to operate in Louisiana.

During the course of the investigation, the Insurance Fraud Unit

learned Pinckard hired work crews to begin cleanup, but they either

did poor work or left without completing the task, the release says.

Pinckard then would submit a bill to the policyholder for amounts

ranging from $13,000 to $16,000 for work normally worth $3,000 to

$6,000, the release said.

Witnesses told investigators that when they contested the bill,

Pinckard made physical taunts and threatened to turn them over to

collection agencies and ruin their credit, the release said.

" They had the technical ability to (perform their jobs), but their

conspiracy was that every claim they would look at, if there was a

need for water restoration, they would push that homeowner to Aqua

Man.

" There is no law that says you cannot make a referral, but it is

unethical, especially if you are getting a cut from it, " he said.

In Las Vegas, Carpenter said, the men appear to be legitimate

businessmen.

" Their intention was to come here and take advantage of Louisiana

citizens in the aftermath of Katrina, " Carpenter said. " More than

anything else, they undermined the trust of the recovery effort.

People are waiting to get their lives together and they took

advantage of that for their own profit. "