Navy Petty Officer Is Accused of Defrauding 5 Insurance Firms

California Highway Patrol investigators Monday arrested a 31-year-old Navy enlisted man on suspicion of filing duplicate claims to five insurance companies for damage and property loss from his car, a spokesman said.

Lawrence Battle, a petty officer at Miramar Naval Air Station, was arrested at about 6 a.m. at his Oceanside home, 4256 Vista Panorama Way, on suspicion of 14 counts of insurance fraud and one count of grand theft, said CHP spokesman Dave Robertson.

Battle remained in County Jail Monday in lieu of $75,000 bail, and the charges were filed with the district attorney.

The grand theft allegation stems from the estimated $70,000 Battle claimed from the five insurance companies, Robertson said. The names of the companies were not released Monday.

The arrest followed a four-month investigation that began when officials of the Insurance Crime Prevention Institute, a private firm hired by insurance companies to keep claim records and prevent fraud, notified the CHP about the duplicate claims, authorities said.

Besides filing claims for stolen goods and damage to the same automobile, Battle filed bodily-injury claims but never collected on them, Robertson said.