SEATTLE - Steven Holle didn't think twice when Allstate Insurance sent him to Autoglass Express to fix his windshield.
"We assumed everything would be OK," he said.
Today King County Prosecutors filed three counts of theft first-degree charges against Autoglass Express and Premier Auto Glass LLC owner Michael Alan Perkins.
According to court documents, Perkins companies are suspected of billing State Farm, Allstate, and MetLife Insurance companies for 4,855 claims that listed higher-priced Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) glass "when the shops actually installed low-cost aftermarket glass."
Prosecutors say Perkins used "deceptive billing" and "fraudulently received $1,520,234.98 from the three insurance companies."
Holle paid $250 and Allstate paid Autoglass Express an additional $254 for the windshield to their car. A quick online search reveals that is much higher than the going rate.
According to prosecutors, Perkins billed Allstate for the more expensive OEM glass while installing a cheaper aftermarket glass.
The Holles were not happy to learn of this.
"It's very irritating. We paid the $250 not knowing what the cost is," said Holle.
In January, investigators from the State Office of Insurance Commissioner raided Perkins' two-story Burien home which is also his homebase for his auto glass business. Investigators took thousands of invoices as evidence. State investigators spent six months pouring over 6,000 invoices from December 2005 to December 2009.
'It's quite extreme," said state investigator Bennie Hamilton.
According to Hamilton, Perkins kept meticulous records and often stapled real invoices to fake ones. In one extreme case, Hamilton says an insurance company was billed more than $1,000 for a piece of glass that was bought at a junk yard for just $92.
" He was paid a substantially larger amount of money than he was entitled to," said Hamilton.
At Autoglass Express home office in Burien, co-owner Trena Perkins denied the allegations.
"It's not proven we did anything because we didn't do anything," she said.
Prosecutors say Perkins could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, but the standard range for a first-time offense is just 3-9 months.
Autoglass Express is still in business, but several insurance companies are no longer sending clients to the business.
