Six Residents of Southeastern Connecticut Charged with Staging Car Accidents in Insurance Fraud Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Connecticut
24 May 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Patricia M. Ferrick, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that a federal grand jury in New Haven has returned an indictment charging six men with fraud and conspiracy offenses for allegedly staging car accidents for the purpose of defrauding automobile insurance companies. The nine-count indictment was returned on May 18, 2016, and was unsealed yesterday.

Charged in the indictment are:

MACKENZY NOZE, also known as “Ken Ken,” 31, of Norwich
JONAS JOSEPH, 32, also known as “James,” of Norwich
FRANDY DUGUE, 39, also known as “Jimmy,” of Norwich
CARLINS CALIXTE, 32, of Norwich
JACQUES FLEURIJEUNE, 26, also known as “Magic,” of New London
PIERRE JEUDY, 56, of Norwich

As alleged in the indictment, the defendants and others deliberately staged approximately 50 automobile accidents in and around New London County. A high percentage of these planned crashes were single-vehicle accidents on remote roads where there were no witnesses other than the occupants of the crashed vehicle. After each staged accident, the defendants filed fraudulent property damage and bodily injury claims with various automobile insurance companies. They then collected payouts on the fraudulent claims from the victim insurance companies. These payouts typically ranged from about $10,000 to about $30,000 per accident.

FLEURIJEUNE, JEUDY and DUGUE were arrested on May 20, and NOZE and CALIXTE were arrested on May 23. NOZE and FLEURIJEUNE are detained and DUGUE, CALIXTE and JEUDY are released on bond.

JOSEPH is being sought by law enforcement. Citizens with knowledge of his whereabouts, or with information that may be helpful to the investigation of this matter, are encouraged to call the FBI at 203-777-6311, or the Norwich Police Department at 860-886-5561.

NOZE, DUGUE, CALIXTE, FLEURIJEUNE, and JEUDY are citizens of Haiti. DUGUE, CALIXTE and JEUDY are lawful permanent residents of the U.S.

The indictment charges each defendant with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and multiple counts of mail and/or wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

U.S. Attorney Daly stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Norwich Police Department and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, with the assistance of the Mohegan Tribal Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi M. Perry.