It began with “door knockers” – the all-too-familiar practice of roofing companies telling homeowners that they can get a new roof with little or no out-of-pocket expense.
North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance, the second-largest property insurer in the state with some 500,000 policies in force, for years had fielded complaints that some roofers were causing damage to roofs to make it appear that wind or hail had caused the problem–just enough for the homeowner to file an insurance claim. One contractor went so far as to tell a policyholder that the insurance company actually wanted him to file a claim and get a new roof.
It was one of many solicitation attempts at the same house in just a few months’ time.
But the state’s insurance commissioner explained at a conference last year that it is difficult to prosecute roofers unless they are caught in the act of mechanically or deliberately damaging the roof, Farm Bureau officials said.
That’s when Farm Bureau’s leadership approached the North Carolina Department of Insurance with an offer. The insurer had access to a home in Raleigh that could serve as a “bait house,” ideal for a sting operation, said Todd Childers, senior claims executive for the carrier.
Within weeks, the sting operation was in business. Investigators with the DOI set up surveillance, ready to secretly video-record roofers inspecting shingles. Farm Bureau had engineering experts inspect the roof before and after the roofers went to work. One roofing contractor in Raleigh stood out and was filmed repeatedly bending the asphalt shingles, apparently to simulate wind uplift, and hammering away on spots in order to claim hail indentations.
“It seems that the roofing industry has some bad actors,” Childers told Insurance Journal. “But there are a lot of good roofing companies, too.”
In December, North Carolina authorities charged Robert Allen Bentley, a senior project manager with A&M Premier Roofing and Construction, with insurance fraud after he was reportedly videotaped manipulating roof shingles at the bait house. The video was not made available at press time.
A&M leadership said Bentley was an independent contractor who had left the company before the arrest was made. The firm’s independent contractor agreement forbids workers from creating damage, the roof company’s president said in a statement: “A&M Premier does not condone unethical practices under any circumstances, as they directly conflict with our training, standards of conduct, and company values.”
It’s the first time NC Farm Bureau has participated in a roof sting operation, Childers said. The DOI has set up a few similar stings, including one in 2020 in which a roofer had his case dropped after he agreed to reimburse the insurance company $30,694, explained Barry Smith, spokesperson for the DOI. He said Commissioner Mike Causey is committed to more investigations, has tripled the number of special agent fraud investigators, and has hired a team of special prosecutors to assist local district attorneys in cracking down on fraudulent actors.