Man Buys Car Insurance 1 Hour After Crash, Convicted Of Fraud

SOLANO COUNTY, CA – A Solano County Superior Court judge Monday sentenced a man convicted of insurance fraud to 11 years in prison, prosecutors said.

A jury convicted Lamont James, 34, on May 21 of two counts of insurance fraud. James was driving a vehicle without insurance on Aug. 19, 2015, when he rear-ended a vehicle on Union Avenue in Fairfield.

Within an hour of the collision, he paid for an insurance policy and falsely reported to the insurance company that the collision occurred the day after he paid for the policy, according to the Solano County District
Attorney's Office.

When James learned the female driver of the car he hit had already made a statement to his insurance company, he called the driver and asked her to change the time of the accident to an hour later then it had occurred so he would be covered by insurance.

The driver refused and James went to her house to again ask her to change the time of the accident. Again the driver refused, prosecutors said.

After a court trial on May 22, Judge Carlos Gutierrez found to be true that James had been convicted of first-degree residential burglary in 2004 and served a prison term in 2014 for being a felon in possession of a
firearm.

The 11-year prison term applies to the insurance fraud and two prior convictions, prosecutors said.

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