Two Charlotte-area brothers have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a Wake County roofing fraud investigation that used a ‘bait house’ to catch contractors intentionally damaging property to generate repair work and support fraudulent insurance claims.
Brett William Bentley, 28, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor injury to real property and paid $27,678.50 in court-ordered restitution to N.C. Farm Bureau Insurance, along with court costs. His brother, Robert Allen Bentley, 36, pleaded guilty to felony injury to real property and attempting to obtain property by false pretense. Robert Bentley received 24 months of supervised probation and was ordered to complete 50 hours of community service. He is barred from working in the roofing industry while on probation.
The brothers worked for A&M Premier Roofing & Construction. The North Carolina Department of Insurance Criminal Investigations Division conducted the sting with Farm Bureau’s Special Investigations Unit. Investigators used a bait house, a property monitored to identify roofing workers who intentionally cause damage and then use that damage to generate business or support an insurance claim.
The case highlights a fraud exposure property adjusters regularly face after storms and other events that drive roofing claims. Damage attributed to hail, wind or another covered loss may warrant closer review when its pattern does not match the reported cause, when a contractor was involved before the claim was filed or when documentation raises questions about how the damage occurred.
For adjusters and SIU teams, the case also demonstrates the role of coordination between carriers and state insurance regulators. Detailed inspections, photographs, claim histories and contractor activity can help distinguish legitimate storm damage from intentionally created damage and provide evidence when a suspicious claim warrants referral for further investigation.
