U-Haul truck crash in North Myrtle Beach part of insurance ‘fraud ring,’ company alleges
A vehicle crash last year in North Myrtle Beach was planned in an effort to defraud U-Haul’s insurance carrier, the moving company asserted in a recent lawsuit filing.
Tiesheam Johnson, of Whiteville, North Carolina, leased a U-Haul rental truck on June 4, 2024 and drove it into the back of a Hyundai a few hours later on Circle Bay Drive, the complaint states. Johnson had attempted to add $1 million supplemental liability insurance coverage shortly after executing the rental agreement, but was unsuccessful, the complaint adds.
Other defendants named in the suit are Byron Butler, of Tabor City, North Carolina, who was a passenger in the U-Haul at the time of the crash; Latisha Colebrooke, of Longs, the driver of the Hyundai; Tanisha Lawrence, of Conway, a passenger in the Hyundai; and Anngulletta Thurmond, of Longs, another passenger in the Hyundai.
None responded to requests by The Sun News for comment on the allegations.
Jeff Lockridge, a spokesman for U-Haul, told The Sun News the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but they do maintain “a robust investigations team that aggressively fights fraudulent behavior.”
After the collision, every person in both vehicles claimed injuries and were transported by emergency medical services from the scene, according to the suit.
U-Haul hired an independent investigator to look into details surrounding the crash, and Johnson told the investigator he hit the brakes and tried to stop before the collision, the complaint states. But internal vehicle data pulled from the moving truck showed the vehicle accelerated to 34 mph right before the collision with no brake activated.
The parties in the U-Haul and Hyundai initially claimed not to know each other, but Thurmond later admitted to the investigator that Butler was her friend, according to the suit.
Butler and Thurmond were involved in another insurance claim together filed months earlier when they shared a Lincoln Navigator totaled by fire, the investigator found.
The investigator discovered other connections among Johnson, Colebrooke, Lawrence and Butler through various Facebook connections with relatives, the suit claims.
The defendants are linked to an insurance “fraud ring investigation” around Conway, U-Haul alleges, with Colebrooke involved in seven loss claims, Lawrence involved in 20 claims, Johnson in two, Butler in eight and Thurmond in four claims.
The Sun News was unable to identify any criminal charges filed against the defendants related to alleged fraud.
U-Haul wants the judge to find that the crash was staged and therefore negate any benefits Johnson is entitled to from the rental agreement he signed with the company. The liability insurance coverage otherwise entitled each person up to $50,000 in property damage and bodily injury claims.
This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 8:32 AM.
