Collision Center Owner Sentenced for $400K+ Insurance Fraud Scheme

After an extensive four-year investigation, the owner of a Pennsylvania auto body repair business has been sentenced for filing nearly 300 false insurance claims which resulted in over $400,000 in fraudulent payouts.

John Reis, of Newtown Township, was sentenced to seven years of restrictive probation and ordered to repay the five insurance companies he defrauded. This sentencing follows his arrest in August 2022 on charges of insurance fraud, deceptive business practices, forgery, and theft by deception, all of which are third-degree felonies.

Chalfont Collision Center, where Reis operated, served as a direct repair center for Erie Insurance, as well as multiple other insurers. In 2018, Erie Insurance received an anonymous tip revealing Reis’s suspicious activities. Investigators discovered that Reis was intentionally damaging vehicles by applying a compound and using a hammer to create the illusion of collision damage, and inflating insurance estimates.