More charged in New Orleans staged-crash conspiracy

More indictments have been filed in connection to a staged-crash insurance fraud conspiracy in New Orleans involving tractor-trailers.

The Operation Sideswipe investigation has led to 47 people being charged, including one personal injury attorney. There have been 30 guilty pleas.

Hundreds of crashes from 2015 through 2017 were involved in the wider staged-crash conspiracy, according to court documents.

The seven new indictments, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Louisiana:

• Florence Randle, 70, of Gibson, La.
• Stadie Wheten, 50, of Atlanta.
• Joseph Brewton, 56, of Houma, La.
• David Brown, 50, of Morgan City, La.
• Gilda Henderson, 69, of Morgan City.
• Latrell Johnson, 30, of New Orleans.
• Larry Picou, 56, of Gibson.

All seven defendants were charged in a 10-count federal indictment. All of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Brown, Henderson, Picou, Randle and Wheaten were charged with mail fraud.

The conspiracy charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The mail fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The defendants also face fines of up to $250,000 per count.

According to court documents, Brewton, Randle and Wheaten served as intermediaries who directed passengers to participate in staged crashes.

Brewton allegedly helped arrange collisions that took place on March 27, 2017, and May 11, 2017. Randle and Wheaten allegedly helped coordinate collisions on May 17, 2017, and June 5, 2017.

The indictment alleges that Brown, Henderson Johnson and Picou falsely claimed that they were passengers in a car that was struck by a tractor-trailer on May 11, 2017. The defendants are suspected of conspiring with Brewton, Damian Labeaud (who previously pleaded guilty), Mario Solomon (who also previously pleaded guilty), and others to intentionally collide with a tractor-trailer in the area of Chef Menteur Highway and Downman Road in New Orleans.

After the intentional collision, Brown, Henderson Johnson and Picou made a false police report, lied in depositions, and filed fraudulent lawsuits claiming that the tractor-trailer was at fault. This scheme caused the insurance company for the tractor-trailer to pay over $140,000 in settlement funds, according to the indictment.

Key guilty pleas, RICO lawsuit

Previously, New Orleans personal injury attorney Danny Patrick Keating Jr. pleaded guilty last summer to knowingly paying a co-conspirator for 31 illegally staged crashes involving tractor-trailers.

In connection with this staged crash scheme, Salt Lake City-based C.R. England in February 2021 filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act civil lawsuit, alleging a New Orleans based attorney conspired with other individuals to profit from a fraudulent settlement involving a phony crash with one of the company’s tractor. He admitted to being involved in 31 staged crashes.

Damian Labeaud, 48, of New Orleans, whom prosecutors called a ringleader of the staged-crash conspiracy, pleaded guilty in August 2020 to being the driver, or “slammer,” in two staged crashes. LL