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Louisiana Woman Sentenced in Connection with Staging an Automobile Accident in Order to Defraud Insurance and Trucking Companies

Louisiana – On June 14, 2022, United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Ishais Price (“Price”), 41, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced before United States District Court Judge Sarah S. Vance for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, arising from a staged automobile accident with a tractor-trailer in New Orleans.

According to court documents, Price conspired with her co-defendants, Doniesha Gibson (Gibson) of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Chandrika Brown (Brown) of Harvey, as well as a co-defendant driver, to commit mail fraud in connection with a staged accident. So far, thirty-seven defendants have been convicted in “Operation Sideswipe”.

Price claimed that on October 15, 2015, she was a passenger in Gibson’s 2014 Dodge Avenger, which was hit by a Hotard bus while traveling on the I-10 near the I-510 flyover. Defendant Brown was also in the vehicle. In reality, a co-defendant asked Gibson to recruit Brown and Price as passengers, and then he purposefully sought out a commercial vehicle to intentionally hit. Following the staged accident, the co-defendant driver swapped seats with Gibson and called the N.O.P.D. Gibson and the passengers falsely claimed that the Hotard bus crossed the center line and caused the accident.

Following that, Brown, Gibson, Price, and the co-defendant driver each retained counsel and filed personal injury claims against Hotard’s owner and insurer. Because of the claims, the insurer used the United States Postal Service to send settlement drafts to Brown, Gibson, Price, and the co-defendant driver’s counsel. The total settlement amount for the Hotard bus accident was around $677,500.

Price was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee by U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance.

The United States Attorney’s Office thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisiana State Police, and the Metropolitan Crime Commission for their assistance with this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba, Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Carboni, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Long are prosecuting this case.

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