Doniesha Gibson, Wire Fraud, Louisiana 2021

A pair of Louisiana women have pleaded guilty to conspiring to stage automobile accidents in order to defraud insurance and trucking companies.

Doniesha Gibson, 29, of New Orleans, and Erica Lee Thompson, 46, of Harvey, entered guilty pleas to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, before United States District Court Judge Sarah S. Vance.

According to the guilty pleas, Gibson and Thompson, along with their co-conspirators and others, beginning in approximately as early as 2015 and continuing through the present, conspired to commit wire fraud in connection with staged accidents with Cornelius Garrison, including two that occurred on October 15, 2015, and September 6, 2017.

Todays guilty pleas bring the total number of defendants convicted in Operation Sideswipe to twenty-two. Gibson admitted to being a passenger in a staged accident on October 15, 2015. On that day, her former co-defendant intentionally drove a 2014 Dodge Avenger owned by Gibson into a Hotard bus while traveling on the I-10 near the flyover of the I-510.

Gibson retained an attorney and thereafter made a claim for damages. The total settlement for the Hotard bus accident was approximately $677,500. Thompson admitted that on September 6, 2017, on the I-10 near the Almonaster exit, she was a passenger in Lee’s 2015 RAV4 being driven by their former co-defendant, when he intentionally crashed into a tractor-trailer owned by Averitt Express.

Thompson retained counsel and made a claim for damages. The total settlement for the Averitt accident was $30,000. In total, the victim trucking, bus, and insurance companies paid out approximately $707,500.00 for these two fraudulent claims orchestrated by the defendants and others.

Gibson and Thompson face a maximum sentence of five (5) years of incarceration. Upon release from prison, each defendant also faces a term of supervised release of up to (3) three years, and/or a fine of $250,000 or the greater of twice the gross gain to each defendant or twice the gross loss to any person under Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

Sentencing in this matter is scheduled for November 3, 2021, before United States District Judge Sarah S. Vance.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/defendants-orleans-and-jefferson-parishes-plead-guilty-conspiring-stage-automobile