Former NFL player accused of staging crashes for insurance money
A former professional football player who lives in Indio is facing felony charges for allegedly staging four car crashes and filing claims resulting in $70,000 in fraudulent insurance payouts, the California Department of Insurance announced Wednesday.
Jefferey Leon Webb, 34, was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers on the afternoon of June 28 on Goodrich Street in Indio, according to the DOI. Webb is a former football star for La Quinta High School and is currently a wide receivers coach for LQHS. “He volunteers to assist our football team but is not an official, or paid, member of the coaching staff,” says Mary Perry, Spokesperson for the Desert Sands Unified School District.
Perry added, “Mr. Webb did hold his football camp at La Quinta High School in exchange for a donation to be made to the football program.”
See all the suspects named in the complaint and a full list of their charges
Webb, who was booked at the Riverside County jail in Blythe and released the following day on $120,000 bail, is accused of being the ringleader in an insurance scam in which he and eight others allegedly crashed owned and rented cars into poles or curbs on purpose to collect insurance payouts.
According to the California Department of Insurance, the crashes resulted in minor damage to the vehicles, but Webb and his co-conspirators all requested medical assistance, including transportation to hospitals for supposed injuries.
Webb is accused of receiving the bulk of $70,000 paid out by insurance companies following the crashes. Another $70,000 in pending claims was also slated to be paid out to Webb before the involved insurance companies, who suspected fraud, alerted the Department of Insurance.
Webb is due to make an Aug. 8 court appearance at the Riverside Hall of Justice, according to jail records. He is charged with four counts of causing an accident for the purpose of presenting a false claim, two counts of preparing writing with the intent of supporting a false claim, and one count of filing a false claim with an insurer.
“California is ground zero for staged auto collisions,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “Organized crime rings are responsible for the majority of staged collision, which are costly to insurers and consumers.”
Webb, a wide receiver, played three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2006-08. He last played football in 2011 with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League.
