Man denies role in helping adjuster in $155,000 fake claims scheme

A Billings, Mont., businessman pleaded not guilty in federal court to allegations that he assisted a former claims adjuster to defraud a Wyoming insurance company in a fake claims scheme. Robert Shane Peterson, 42, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby at an arraignment hearing that he was not guilty of one count of wire fraud, according to the Billings Gazette. Peterson, policyholder, is accused of helping Ryan Paul Shipman, a former claims adjuster for Mountain West Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., to steal more than $100,000 from the Laramie, Wy.-based insurer.