​Bucks County Tow Company Owner Charged With Insurance Fraud

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The owner of a Bucks County towing company has been charged with over inflating a bill to an insurance company following a wreck in Warrington Township earlier this year.

Vlad Andrei Ungvari, 31, of Hatboro, was charged on Thursday, Dec. 7 with filing a false insurance claim, unlawful use of a computer, criminal use of a communication facility, and theft by deception. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Stacy Wertman and was released on $100,000 unsecured bail.

In April, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office began investigating Glenn's Towing Company of Warrington after it received an insurance fraud referral from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Insurance Fraud Section on behalf of Travelers Insurance, pertaining to a towing bill submitted by the company.

The bill was related to a service call that Glenn’s Towing responded to on Feb. 28 at the intersection of Folly Road and Bristol Road.

Warrington Township Lt. Glen Gottenberg responded to the single-vehicle crash where a silver 2018 Toyota Camry struck a curb, left the roadway, and then hit a telephone pole before rolling back onto the street. The vehicle sustained front-end damage and required a tow truck.

Glenn’s Towing, which was the duty-tow company for Warrington Township, sent one flatbed tow truck. The tow truck operator winched the damaged vehicle onto the flatbed, picked up debris and departed the scene, taking the vehicle to Glenn’s Towing storage yard at 366 Easton Road,
Warrington.

Travelers Insurance later deemed the vehicle a total loss and had their salvage vendor retrieve the vehicle. At that time, Glenn’s Towing provided an invoice for $1,865.

The insurance company’s claim manager reviewed the invoice and suspected questionable and likely inflated billing, requesting that their Special Investigations Unit look into the invoice.

A Detective with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office investigated their findings, and spoke to witnesses, including the driver of the wrecked vehicle and the tow truck operator the night of
the crash, and concluded that Ungvari provided a fraudulent invoice to an insurance carrier with the intent that he would be paid in whole for services not rendered.

The investigation found that Ungvari overbilled the insurance company by $1,380, which included charging for two tow trucks when only one went to the crash site, billing them for wait time when there was no wait, and billing them for oil dry and multiple cleanups when none was needed.

This case was investigated by Bucks County Detectives, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, Warrington Township Police Department, and the Travelers Insurance Special Investigations Unit.

“Consumers in need of a tow are often in emotional distress and, sometimes, physically at risk, due to location of their vehicle — that does not give any company the right to take advantage of someone in a pinch,” Attorney General Michelle Henry said. “Our criminal investigation unit, as well as our Bureau of Consumer Protection, have dealt with predatory tow fee matters, and are committed to standing up for consumers forced to overpay.”

Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber, Chief of Insurance Fraud and Economic Crimes, and Deputy Attorney General Jose Perez are assigned to prosecute this case.