Watson was convicted of:
- 21 counts of Fraud Over $5000
- 9 counts of Breach of Trust Public Officer
- 9 counts of Utter Forged Documents
- 3 counts of Obstruct Justice
The court found Watson guilty of supporting false insurance claim schemes by providing false collision reports and related Highway Traffic Act tickets to legitimize reported losses.
In passing the guilty verdict this past February, Justice John Sproat said Watson was paid to provide accident reports to make staged accidents look legitimate, as part of a scheme that bilked insurance companies out of more than $1 million in indemnity payments and associated investigation and legal expenses.
"Staged collisions sometimes draw innocent drivers into dangerous situations that put their safety and security in jeopardy," said Rick Dubin, Vice-President of Investigative Services at IBC. "We are encouraged to see the courts strike hard at the core of this practice. One day, hopefully, we will eliminate it."
Dubin added, "We congratulate the Peel Regional Police and the Crown on the investigation and prosecution that led to the convictions in this case. IBC and our member insurers that were victimized were very active and assisted police during the investigation."
IBC continues to send the message to Ontario drivers that cases of car insurance fraud like this one cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra premiums every year. In fact, a KPMG report prepared for the Ontario Auto Insurance Anti-Fraud Task Force estimated that the cost of auto insurance fraud in Ontario could be as high as $1.6 billion annually.
"This sentence reinforces what we have been saying – that auto insurance fraud in Ontario is a multi-million dollar business. And when someone makes a false or exaggerated claim, honest consumers pay considerably more than they should for insurance," said Dubin.
IBC's Investigative Services works with insurers and law enforcement to bring to justice the criminals who defraud the system and threaten the safety of innocent drivers. Everyone has a responsibility to fight fraud: insurance companies, the government and individual consumers.
To help catch fraudsters, IBC encourages people with any information about insurance crime to call our anonymous TIPS line (1-877-IBC-TIPS).