Man sentenced for insurance fraud after claiming rare money, video games were stolen
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The following is a news release from Attorney General Lawrence Wasden.
TWIN FALLS — Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has announced a Twin Falls County man was sentenced Monday, Feb. 11, for insurance fraud.
44-year-old Tony A. Herschler of Twin Falls pleaded guilty in November.
Senior District Court Judge Thomas Ryan sentenced Herschler to a unified sentence of six years with three years fixed and three years indeterminate. The judge suspended the sentence and then ordered the defendant to serve three years of probation. Herschler was also ordered to serve 180 days jail with 160 days as discretionary. He received credit for time served and is eligible to complete the remaining jail time with community service hours. The court ordered the defendant to pay $880 in restitution to the Idaho Department of Insurance and $1,500 to Liberty Mutual, as well as court costs.
An investigation revealed Herschler purchased a renter’s insurance policy with Liberty Mutual on October 1, 2016. Eight days later he filed a claim with the company and stated his room at the Super 7 Motel in Twin Falls had been burglarized and $33,360 in personal property was stolen. He claimed the items stolen included a diamond ring, a 10 ounce gold bar, a 1798 silver dollar, two 1917 George Washington dollar notes, a PlayStation 4, and 147 PlayStation 4 games. Liberty Mutual later discovered that many of the video games reported stolen had not yet been released to the public.
Deputy Attorney General Jessica Cafferty in the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted the case. The Idaho Department of Insurance investigated.