ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man has pleaded guilty to a scheme involving staged auto accidents designed to defraud insurance companies of over $100,000. Adrian Peebles, 31, admitted his guilt on Monday to one count of mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Missouri.
Prosecutors say Peebles orchestrated several accidents between September 2021 and January 2023. The staged incidents usually took place at night in remote areas, presumably to minimize the chances of witnesses or immediate scrutiny. Following each staged accident, Peebles would report injuries to responding officers.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Peebles, after being treated, would go to the emergency room, complaining of “non-determinative pain” that led to “expensive tests that never identified any particular injury.” He then directed the resulting payments from the vehicle insurance companies to himself instead of the hospital, and failed to pay his medical bills.
The scheme resulted in a total loss of $107,951 for two insurance companies. Peebles is slated to be sentenced on April 17.
