No jail time for Prosser man guilty of insurance fraud after wine tanker crash
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Loges pleaded guilty; five days confinement converted to community service.
- Prosecutors say invoices showed a July 2023 sale though records show Feb. 2022 purchase.
- Five days confinement converted to 40 hours service; theft charge dropped in plea deal.
A Prosser business manager won’t have to serve jail time for an insurance fraud attempt after a tanker truck tipped in a Benton City roundabout and spilled thousands of gallons of wine.
Matthew A. Loges, 45, pleaded guilty in September to a felony charge of false insurance claim over $1,500 in Benton County Superior Court and was sentenced Wednesday.
Judge Jackie Shea-Brown sentenced Loges to five days partial confinement to be converted to 40 hours of community service. A second charge of first-degree theft was dropped as part of his plea agreement.
His co-defendant Allyssa L. Dunn, 31, is still awaiting trial on the same charges.
Wine truck crash
A Loges Farm semi hauling 6,000 gallons of wine tipped over in a Benton City roundabout in August 2023.
The driver was headed west on Interstate 82 when he began going through the intersection that connects with First Street and Highway 224. The semi was going too fast and flipped in the roundabout, Washington State Patrol said at the time.
When it tipped, the tanker trailer cracked open and spilling the wine.
Loges Farms LLC is a trucking company operated by Loges and Dunn, according to state records.
Immediately after the crash, Loges and Dunn filed an insurance claim with Progressive for the truck and the trailer. They soon learned that the trailer wasn’t covered because it hadn’t been included in their policy.
Their policy would allow the $31,000 trailer to be covered only if they had bought it within 30 days of the crash.
Prosecutors said that they handed over two different invoices showing that the trailer was bought on July 29, 2023, according to court documents.
“Mr. Loges explicitly told insurance agents about how that sale had occurred,” court documents said.
When insurance investigators followed up on one of the invoices, the owner said he never signed the bill of sale.
The second one, was initially confirmed. While they were able to confirm Loges Farms bought the trailer, it was paid for with a loan on Feb. 23, 2022, more than a year and a half before the crash, court documents said.
After that discovery, the person who initially confirmed selling the trailer said it was sold in 2022 but denied changing the bill of sale.
-Reporter Cameron Probert contributed to this report.
