Indictment alleges Columbia residents involved in insurance billing scheme

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) An indictment that was unsealed Tuesday reveals an alleged insurance billing scheme where a group of 19 people collected $1.2 million. The scheme had been taking place since 2017. The group used several platforms to communicate with each other before submitted insurance claims from vehicle crashes. According to the indictment, the group used Snapchat, Gmail and Yahoo mail to communicate. At the center of it all is Lawrence Lawhorn. Lawrence Lawhorn ABC 17 News reported in August Lawhorn was the victim of a shooting at the Columbia Mall. One week after the shooting, Lawhorn was arrested for insurance fraud. Lawhorn himself made $1,500 in one instance in the scheme and $17,350 in another. According to the indictment, several of the defendants named used either email for Snapchat to send pictures of insurance policies to Lawhorn or, in one instance, the address where the wreck took place. In one instance, Larell Montez Bzanks sent a Snapchat message to Lawhorn four hours before a crash with the address of where the incident occurred. On Oct. 2, 2019, Kathy Davy Kimhang was in a wreck with one of the defendants named. Lawhorn directed Kimhang what to tell a Progressive Insurance…
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