Expert: Rob Painter, Ase, CFEI, CAFATE - 3/19/2011

Question
This is a crazy question and please don't condemn me for what I ask.  Unfortunately, I am a human with feelings and emotions.  My fiance' took my vehicle (solely in my name) without my permission 5 weeks ago, went to a nearby city and ended up involved with drugs.  During this time, I filed a report with the police which they took on to a theft of a motor vehicle.  Sometime while he had my truck, it was stolen from him by crack dealers or dealer, the next morning, he was incarcerated after being beat up and nearly killed trying to get home.  The next night, after he was incarcerated, my truck was involved in two hit and runs, totaled out and also totaled another vehicle in the hit and runs.  My insurance company has paid on my comp claim, but I do not want to be the one to send him to prison for 10 years.  Again, condemn me, but yes I am human.  I have since purchased another vehicle.  I have been subpoenaed to appear in court at his prelim hearing, went to speak to the investigator last night who told me several lies and advised me that he will probably win the case even if I drop charges.  The thing is, my "fiance" such as he is now, has firmly committed to signing a statement that he will be fully responsible for reimbursing the insurance company for their payout on my claim as I did nothing wrong and his actions led to the total claim on my truck.  If I drop the charges or drop them to unauthorized use of an mv, will the insurance company sue me or will they accept his commitment to reimburse the claim.  The other police department, to my knowledge, has not even pursued the person who wrecked my truck as the "fiance" was incarcerated 12 hours before it was wrecked and abandoned in someone's front yard.  I did nothing wrong here, except to have a heart and need some advice.

Answer
Hi,

I am not condemning you, or criticizing you, but here are some cold hard facts as they relate to your future marriage and the criminal situation.
You cannot drop charges and I hope you think very strongly about this over and beyond your love for this man.
If you drop charges, there is the possibility that the insurance company may be looking at you as being complicit with the theft. Trust me when I say, they are capable of anything and if it turns on you, you yourself may be looking at felonies like filing a false police report. Can this happen? Absolutely. You also have a contract with the insurance company in your policy stating you will assist them in the prosecution.

When you marry this guy, your insurance rates will sky rocket because you are no longer single and anything he does or has done goes with the minute you say “I do.”

There is another underlying issue here. He dealt with a crack dealer and his friends that almost killed him. If they took the truck, he owes more than he is telling you to the crack dealer  and the gang. Again, your association with him no matter how much you love him, will put you in grave danger. If they stole the truck from him, they may come and break into your house, steal property from you and not trying to scare you, possibly get your house shot up! Crack dealers and gangs are very bad dudes. I am more than familiar with them and what they are capable of. I never touched the stuff, but I dealt with the gangs on the south side of Chicago for more than 10 years. You also are setting yourself up for your house being raided by the cops. This all goes with this relationship and you are darn lucky the insurance company even paid on the claim.

Look, I am sure you have heard it many times, but I am an outside source that doesn’t know you, but I know the situation all too well with the love issue and it never turns out good.

Once a crack addict, always a crack addict. You can’t save the world and before you ever got involved with this guy, you should have run a criminal background check. It was done many times with me when dating women. There may be things in his background he is not telling you and yet you are so much in love with him, your judgment is skewed.

Bottom line—no matter what your feelings are, you need to lookout for yourself and you HAVE  TO PROSECUTE, you have no choice!

Did you tell the insurance company the whole story about the live in boy friend going to a crack dealer with your truck, and the truck being stolen from him? I don't think so. If you are going to not be totally honest now, what kind of relationship are you going to have when you marry this guy?
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Good luck!