DJ's scam dosen't go as planned

Jeesh... What a botched caper. I can only imagine the thought process involved here. Ok, we'll hide the car at your place under a tarp and then I'll call my insurance company and say, "my car is gone!" Then we'll go cash the check for the car and go celebrate in Atlantic City. It doesn’t surprise me one of these guys works as a DJ. What would they have done with the car if their plan hadn't collapsed? I have a mercury cougar I'm trying to sell right now, it's also a '99. It never occured to me to try something like this, and I don't think that I will.

Two Utica men charged with insurance fraud

HERKIMER - Two Utica men have been charged with insurance fraud following an investigation by the state police in Herkimer and NYS DMV Investigation Unit.

James Winston Jr., 28, of 118 Riverside Drive North Utica and Richard Borowiec Jr., 26, of 723 Plant St., Utica, were both charged with third-degree insurance fraud, a Class D felony.

State Police in Herkimer report that on May 1, Borowiec reported to them that his 1999 Mercury Cougar had been stolen from the parking lot of the Backstreets Brewing Company at Charlestown while he was working there as a DJ. A police information revealed that the vehicle was hidden under a tarp at an unlicensed repair shop on Tilden Avenue being operated by Winston. Further investigation revealed details of a planned insurance fraud in which Winston removed the vehicle and was to receive a portion of the insurance proceeds from Borowiec's claim to State Farm that the vehicle was stolen.

Both men were arraigned in German Flatts Town Court and committed to the Herkimer County jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bond and will reappear in that court at a later date. The State Police were assisted by New York State DMV investigators with the investigation which also resulted in the recovery of another vehicle from Winston's repair shop which was stolen from the city of Syracuse. Charges on that matter remain pending at this time.