More Alleged Participants Indicted in Staged Truck Accidents
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An indictment in a New Orleans-area scheme to stage crashes with tractor-trailers names two law firms, two individual attorneys and multiple participants in a sweeping conspiracy that included fraud, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and murder.
The 10-count indictment, unsealed Dec. 9 by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, was the latest development in a yearslong federal investigation into a series of staged accidents with heavy trucks dating back as far as 2011. The new round of indictments brings to 63 the total number of individuals who have either been charged or pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the ongoing FBI investigation, known as “Operation Sideswipe.”
Charged in the new indictment were Ryan Harris, 36, of New Orleans; Sean Alfortish, 57, of New Orleans; Vanessa Motta, 43, of New Orleans; Jason Giles, 45, of New Orleans; Leon Parker, 51, of New Orleans; Diaminike Stalbert, 34, of Metairie; Carl Morgan, 66, of New Orleans; and Timara Lawrence, 34, of New Orleans.
Also charged in the conspiracy are the law firms of Motta Law, and the King Law Firm, both of New Orleans.
The scheme included “slammers,” individuals who drove automobiles and intentionally collided with tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles in order to stage collisions. After the staged collisions, the slammers would flee the scene, and a passenger in the vehicle would falsely claim to have been driving at the time of the collision, according to investigators. The individuals riding as passengers knew that they’d be involved in staged collisions and later lied as part of fraudulent insurance claims and fraudulent lawsuits based on the staged collisions.
The staged accidents stretch back to 2011 and occurred in the New Orleans area. (travelview/Getty Images)
The new indictment specifically alleges that, in or around 2019, Alfortish, Motta, Motta Law, Giles and the King Firm became aware of the federal criminal investigation into the staged collision scheme and committed various acts of obstruction of justice and witness tampering to cover up the scheme.
“These acts included Alfortish, Motta and Motta Law conspiring to 1) manipulate an individual into making a false statement, 2) offering to pay a slammer cooperating with investigators and to move him outside of the United States if he agreed not to cooperate with the federal criminal investigation into the staged collision scheme, and 3) obstructing the cooperating witness from participating in civil depositions related to 18-wheeler tractor trailer collisions,” the indictment said.
Giles did not return a message seeking comment. Motta attorney Sean Toomey, however, maintained his client’s innocence.
“Vanessa Motta is completely innocent of any wrongdoing,” Toomey told Transport Topics. “The government’s theory — that a lawyer barely a year out of law school decided to participate in a sprawling conspiracy — is terribly mistaken. If these accidents were in fact staged, my client was also a victim and taken advantage by others. Over the last five years, Vanessa has been unjustly vilified in the press, and so while we strongly believe this indictment is misguided, we are looking forward to the trial of this case where Vanessa will finally be vindicated.”
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The murder referenced in the indictment focuses on charges filed in May against two individuals in the 2020 shooting death of Cornelius Garrison, 54, a fellow participant in the scheme who was known to be cooperating with the FBI. The May indictment charged Harris and Jovanna Gardner, 39, of Chalmette, La., with witness tampering through murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness through murder, and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Gardner, who is not believed to have pulled the trigger, has since pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
If convicted, the players in the schemes could face from to 10 to 20 years or even life in prison.
Guillot
“None of this information is new for those of us who have lived and breathed this for the past six or seven years,” said Randy Guillot, a former ATA chairman and president of Louisiana-based Southeastern Motor Freight, a carrier that in 2020 filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit after falling victim to a staged accident. “The legal system in court cases is broken. The result we’re seeing is bad people doing bad things, taking advantage of a broken system.”
Guillot added, “At the end of the day, the trucking industry is on the receiving side of so much of this fraudulent activity, that it’s about time that we stand up for what’s right. It’s about time that we stand up as an industry.”
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