VALLEY ROUNDUP : Fraud Charges Filed Over Quake Engineering Reports

The president of a company hired to do engineering reports for Allstate Insurance Co. after the Northridge earthquake was charged Wednesday with three counts of fraud, according to the U.S. attorney’s office

LeAndre Drake Davis, 36, of San Jose is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 20 to enter pleas, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

“He was hired by Allstate to go out to various locations to do inspections and generate reports,” Mrozek said. “But the reports were fraudulent for a number of reasons.”

In some cases, the U.S. attorney’s office contends, reports were filed by Davis’ company--Shadowbrook Design Group--even though no engineers had inspected the property in question. In others, the reports were false or incomplete, Mrozek said.

In addition, Davis is accused of submitting inflated bills for his company’s work to Allstate.

If convicted on all counts, Davis could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison, Mrozek said.

Last year, Allstate settled a class-action lawsuit filed by policyholders who alleged their earthquake damage claims were mishandled by engineers hired by the insurer.