Direct Repair Shop Owner Charged With Insurance Fraud

The owner of the Chalfont Collision Center faces third-degree felony charges for allegedly submitting nearly 300 false insurance claims over several years to four insurance companies and pocketing more than $426,000 in payouts.

John Paul Reis, 56, of Newtown Township, turned himself in on Thursday, Aug. 25 on charges of insurance fraud, deceptive business practices, forgery and theft by deception. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage who set bail at $150,000 unsecured.

The charges filed against Reis are the result of a four-year investigation by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office Insurance Fraud Unit, that began in September 2018 after receiving a referral from Erie Insurance’s Special Investigations Unit that alleged the Chalfont Collision Center, at 74 Park Avenue, was enhancing and or creating damage to customers’ vehicles to inflate insurance estimates.

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