BC man guilty of insurance fraud after claiming stolen motorcycle

A 23-year old British Columbia man was ordered to pay nearly $9,000 after he defrauded ICBC.

In 2007, Jesse Germaniuk, a 23 year old from the Sunshine Coast, told police that he had chained his 2002 Honda 600 motorcycle to a wooden post in the parking lot of the Pender Harbour Hotel in Madeira Park. He went out of town for a few days and said when he returned, the motorcycle was gone.

Germaniuk filed a stolen vehicle claim with ICBC. Germaniuk had a comprehensive policy which covered theft and did not have collision coverage. Since his motorcycle was ‘stolen’, he was paid out $6,034.

Three years later, ICBC received a tip about the claim through its fraud tips line. The insurer’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated and found that the motorcycle had not been stolen from the parking lot. They discovered that Germaniuk had crashed the bike into a pole and salvaged the engine and other parts. CBC’s SIU worked with Sechelt RCMP in a joint investigation that led to the seizure of the Honda engine and other motorcycle parts and accessories from a shed on Germaniuk’s property, following the execution of a search warrant.

Germaniuk plead guilty to fraud by filing a false claim and was fined $2,500, ordered to pay over $6,000 in restitution to ICBC and ordered to pay $375 in victim surcharge costs.

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