Atlanta man to go to trial in Westmoreland County over accusation of car insurance fraud

A Georgia man has been ordered to stand trial in Westmoreland County Court on charges that he falsified the date of a collision by a month so he could add the crashed car to his policy and file a claim.

An agent with the state Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section said Vivek Chitturi, 28, of Atlanta admitted to lying about the date of the crash. He told investigators that the uninsured car was owned and being driven by his friend when it was involved in a collision with a box truck that was traveling from Maryland to Ohio, according to a criminal complaint.

Investigators said Chitturi also contacted the truck driver several times by text and phone to ask that he agree to change the date of the accident when he was contacted by insurance adjusters to provide a statement about the crash.

Chitturi was charged with felony counts of filing a false insurance claim, theft by deception, and insurance fraud. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Nov. 9 before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec, who ordered him to stand trial. He was released from custody on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

The crash happened Nov. 18, 2022, along I-70 in Donegal Township, Washington County.

However, the charges were filed in Peck Yakopec’s court because the false statements about the crash Chitturi is accused of making happened during a recorded telephone conversation with a Progressive Insurance agent working remotely in Lower Burrell.

Investigators wrote in a criminal complaint that a state trooper who responded to the crash issued a citation to the box truck driver for causing the wreck because he struck the car while changing lanes. The truck sustained $15,000 in damage; the cost of repairing the car was estimated to exceed what it was worth — $4,000 to $5,000, according to the complaint.

The trooper’s incident report noted that there were four passengers in the car, and that the driver said he did not have insurance. The driver was later identified as Chitturi’s friend.

Chitturi is accused of adding the car to his Progressive Insurance policy Dec. 7, 2022, and then filing a written claim and making recorded statements in which he said he was driving the car. He said the crash happened Dec. 18, according to the complaint.

Progressive Insurance denied the claim after verifying with state police and the company that towed the car that the date of the crash was Nov. 18, the complaint said.

The insurance company alerted the Attorney General’s Office about the statements made by Chitturi and provided them with transcripts of text messages he allegedly sent to the truck driver asking him to report a later date for the crash so he could add the car to his policy, the complaint said.