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A Tarrant County grand jury has indicted Donald Ray Carlen of Bedford and his father, James Glendale Carlen of Fort Worth. The two body shop owners were charged with scheming to defraud insurance companies of hundreds of thousands of dollars and failing to pay collected state sales tax.
The Carlens, owners of Keystone Body Shop in Richland Hills and North Richland Hills, face charges of organized crime, theft by deception and misappropriation of funds. The Carlens’ bookkeeper, Michelle Sanie Greece of Bedford, faces charges of organized crime and theft by deception. And the corporation that Keystone operates under, JJL Inc., was also indicted on a charge of misappropriation of funds.
The investigation was initiated by USAA after a body shop fraud article that appeared in its consumer magazine prompted many complaints from its insureds about the Keystone shops. Reinspections were done on vehicles that had been repaired at the shops and many irregularities were discovered. Where invoices reflected charges for new parts, existing parts were instead repaired. Other repairs that had been charged for were never completed. USAA notified the Texas Department of Insurance and a full investigation ensued. Of substantial interest was the fact that Keystone charged customers sales tax and never forwarded the collected money to the state. At least $450,000 was suspected to fall in this category between 1991 and 1995.
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