Aaron Wayne Yates: Miles man receives jail time for fraud of insurance company over stolen car
A Miles man who swindled an insurance company out of thousands of dollars in a half-baked scheme with another man has received jail time for his theft.
Police & Courts
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A Miles man has been jailed after he was involved in a deceptive scheme to defraud an insurance company to the tune of more than $30,000.
Aaron Wayne Yates appeared in the dock at Dalby District Court on May 28 after he and another man swindled thousands of dollars by falsely reporting a car as stolen to an insurance company.
Court documents revealed the half-baked plan involved the 28-year-old hiding the car and his accomplice reporting it as stolen.
Judge Michael Burnett said the other man made a claim against his insurer, where $34,500 was paid out.
“Perhaps some of that went to a finance company … I do not know,” he said.
“In any event, you commenced stripping the vehicle and you sold certain parts.
“I note that you received about $1550 for the sale of parts of the vehicle.”
According to court documents, the whole scheme “unwound” after the engine was identified as stolen after a driver unwittingly tried to register their vehicle in New South Wales.
Judge Burnett said insurance investigators followed up with Yates and his accomplice, where they provided false information to the insurer.
He said the company made a commercial judgment and paid out on the insurance, before police later became involved.
“The party most injured by the offending was the insurer, although I do note that [the accomplice] has been dealt with and restitution has been directed by him through SPER,” Judge Burnett said.
Court documents revealed Yates said he had received the vehicle for scrap and sold the parts, and denied knowing the car was stolen.
Judge Burnett told Yates his entire statement was “all quite false”.
“[The accomplice] was more forthcoming,” he said.
The former Chinchilla father, now living in Miles, had made a living through buying and selling car parts according to Judge Burnett, but said this informs some of the offending.
Court documents revealed his associate received 12 months’ jail which was subject to parole release.
“There is, in my view, some scope for moderation of the sentence to reflect the differing returns, particularly given that [the accomplice] was always going to be the principal beneficiary even though … you may have been the person who sowed the seeds for this enterprise by encouraging him to falsely report his car was stolen in the first place,” Judge Burnett said.
He told the court that cases such as this were easy to do and difficult to prove, and said this case was evidence of that.
“Except for you not thinking through the prospect of the engine being traced, you and [the accomplice] would have got away with it, but that was not to be,” he said.
Yates pleaded guilty to one count of fraud to the value of $30,000 or more and was sentenced to 21 months’ jail.
Judge Burnett suspended the term after five months, for an operational period of four years.
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