Auto Body Shop Owner Accused Of Damaging Cars On Purpose Appears In Court
EVERETT (CBS) -- An auto body shop owner accused of damaging cars to get more money out of insurance companies appeared in court Tuesday. The Attorney General's Office said Adam Haddad was under investigation for two years.
Haddad pleaded not guilty to 42 charges including motor vehicle insurance fraud, attempted larceny and malicious destruction of property.
Prosecutors alleged he charged or attempted to charge insurance companies a total of more than $170,000 for work he never actually did.
"I really never want to see him again," Michael Payne said. His family is one of several alleged victims listed on 26 different indictments.
Payne said it all started when his wife got in a fender bender back in May.
"By the time I got there, there was a gentleman there and saying that he can get a tow truck, not to worry about anything," he said.
He soon found out there was something to worry about: $5,000 worth of damages skyrocketed to $23,000.
"It ended up being engine work and all kinds of different things. Just a series of one thing after another," Payne said.
When his wife, Suzanne, showed up at the shop to get something out of the car it was completely stripped.
Finally, five months later, the car was supposedly ready. "And then I got in the car and when I opened up the glove compartment, the glove compartment fell apart," Payne said.
Howard Smith is another car owner who said Haddad damaged his car even more. He told WBZ-TV he had just gotten his Maserati and brought the car to Haddad to get a light fixed.
Smith said it turned out to be a nightmare: two years and seven months of back and forth with Haddad.
In this court document detailing the evidence, it said surveillance video from inside the Everett location shows Haddad entering the shop in the early morning of July 31 and using mallets, sledgehammers, and pieces of wood to cause more damage to four identified customer's vehicles.
"He definitely got me pretty good that's for sure," Payne said.
A defense attorney said these are only allegations at this point and is looking forward to seeing how the evidence plays out in court.
Haddad will be back in Middlesex Superior Court on May 28. His shops, Accurate Collission Inc. in Worcester and ADH Collision of Boston Inc. in Everett, are still in business.
