Midway law enforcement scene linked to federal insurance fraud case
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A large law enforcement presence in a Midway-area neighborhood Tuesday was related to a fraud indictment with scores of counts against more than a dozen people.
The indictment, filed last month and unsealed Tuesday, includes 66 counts against a total of 19 defendants. The indictment alleges multiple instances of insurance fraud by people living in the Columbia and Kansas City areas.
Don Ledford, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri, said the case is linked to a large law enforcement presence in the Midway area near Columbia on Tuesday.
The office said in a news release that the defendants got $1.2 million through the insurance fraud conspiracy. The conspiracy involved false claims of injuries suffered in vehicle crashes.
Federal prosecutors allege the conspiracy started in June 2017 and continued through July 2020. The prosecutor's office said one man, Lawrence C. Lawhorn, 32, received payment in two incidents and was involved in eight others.
Five other defendants -- Lauren C. Luque, 34 of Columbia and Kansas City; Tara C. Jackson, 57, of Independence, Missouri, and Lawhorn's mother; Michael J. Carter, 30, of Columbia; Larell M. Banks, 27, of Columbia; and Michael L. G. Stapelton, 34, of Columbia -- each got $50,000 or more from the scheme, prosecutors allege.
Multiple local policing agencies and the FBI responded to the scene in a Midway neighborhood Tuesday morning.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Department and the ATF Task Force were helping the FBI with an investigation, sheriff's department Sgt. Brian Leer said. Authorities tried to stop a vehicle near the Midway Travel Plaza in connection with that investigation, but the person left on foot.
The Boone County Sheriff's Department got a search warrant for the home where the suspect ran.
An ABC 17 News crew near the intersection of Highway 40 and Trails West Avenue said several deputy vehicles had lights on and an ambulance responded to the area.
Leer said ATF and FBI agents along with Columbia police officers arrested a person at the scene.
A spokesman for the FBI's Kansas City office, Dixon Land, said the federal agency had agents at the scene, but he was unable to provide any additional information.
A spokesman for Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop F, Kyle Green, said two people were in the house. They came outside when the police told them to, he said.
"They were probably handcuffed for precautionary reasons because deputies didn’t know who they were, and I am unaware if they were residents of the home," Green said.
One person who was handcuffed was seen getting into a police car at the scene.
"A person ran on foot and they believe he fled into a residence, the residence was surrounded but the subject was not located," Green said.
Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said there was no threat to staff at nearby Midway Heights Elementary. She said safety and security teams were in the building as well.
CPS students are learning all-online until at least January.
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