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Office of the District Attorney P. David Soares ALBANY, NY – District Attorney P. David Soares today announced 40 additional counts added to the case of defendents; JOSEPH HOUGHTALING, AKA Anthony Houghtaling, RENEE HOUGHTALING, FRANK L. HOUGHTALING, DONNA HOUGHTALING, ALFRED J. HOUGHTALING, RHONDA HOUGHTALING, BRENDA WARNER, and WILLIE COOK. The sealed indictments were opened this morning by the Hon. Stephen Herrick. On March 15th, 2006, the District Attorney’s Office along with several law enforcement agencies originally announced a 37 Count Indictment, which included Enterprise Corruption, a Class “B” Felony as the top count. The 40 new counts include: Grand Larceny, Insurance Fraud, Attempted Insurance Fraud, Falsifying Business Records, Criminal Mischief, and Conspiracy. It is alleged that between March 1998 - June 2005, the defendants planned staged vehicle accidents and then would produce fraudulent claims to insurance companies. Many of the victims were either senior citizens or patrons leaving pubs and/or drinking establishments. 6 defendants mentioned above are related. The additional counts involved at least ten more crashes. There are 72 counts in all. The Staged Accident Ring engaged in a number of methods by which accidents were staged. In some cases, the suspect cars would intentionally crash into cars driven by other innocent drivers. It would also be alleged that they would create false and fraudulent documents to insurance companies surrounding the motor vehicle accident. Several Agencies were involved in this investigation including the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Department of Criminal Justice, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, New York State Insurance Department, and the Albany, Colonie, and Bethlehem Police Departments. DA Soares stated today “The message we want to send to the people of Albany County is that this type of Organized Crime is not welcome here and if you plan to deliberate stage accidents for profit and jeopardize innocent lives, you will be pursued and be vigorously prosecuted”. For further information contact: Rachel McEneny
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