In January 2023 Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office detectives were alerted to an extensive insurance fraud scheme taking place in Yavapai and Maricopa Counties involving several people and a well-known insurance company.
Through the months long investigation, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) detectives were able to identify the culprits of a sophisticated plot that spanned over several years. The perpetrators involved would file false water damage claims by numerous people to All State Insurance Company in both Yavapai and Maricopa counties. All the claims were verified by the same person, a well know adjuster, and because of his stellar reputation the claims would be paid. This “master mind and ringleader” was identified as Ronald William Higgins of Sun City Arizona. His accomplices were identified as Eddie Murdock of Mayer, Arizona and Dustin Mountain of Cordes Lakes. Over the years of the scheme, approximately $1.3 million in false claims were paid out as a direct result of the actions of the three men.
YCSO obtained Grand Jury warrants for the arrest of Higgins and Murdock, and on November 6 after several months of intense investigative work, the YCSO Criminal Investigations Bureau located Higgins in Indiana where he was taken into custody. Murdock has continued to elude custody and YCSO is still actively seeking his whereabouts. Mountain is currently incarcerated in the Arizona Department of Corrections on un-related charges and will have additional charges filed against him for his involvement in this matter.
The investigation was a multi-agency fraud investigation that included Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Detectives, All State Insurance Company Fraud Investigation Team, National Insurance Crime Bureau- Phoenix, and the Phoenix Police Department.