Lynnwood man charged in 'tie' fraud

A Lynnwood man has been charged with insurance fraud after claiming that car thieves had made off with his $33,000 collection of silk neckties, according to the state Insurance Commissioner's office.

Carlton Wopperer, 49, is to be arraigned next month in Snohomish County Superior Court on two counts of insurance fraud, according to a Tuesday news release.

Three times in nine years, he claimed thieves had stolen his collection of 212 silk neckties from his vehicle. But an insurance investigation revealed that Wopperer had returned many of the ties to stores within minutes of buying them. Then he kept the receipts, apparently to back up his theft claims.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler called it classic insurance fraud.

In one claim, Wopperer told the Mill Creek Police Department his vehicle had been broken into while parked at a greeting-card store Jan. 5, 2009. He said four plastic containers containing 212 of his silk neckties had been stolen. He said he'd taken the ties to a quilt shop to see about having them sewn onto a quilt for display.

Wopperer purchased replacement ties from Nordstrom, Butch Blum, Barneys New York and Mario's of Seattle, submitting the receipts to his insurer, who paid him $33,370.

Six months later, he reported a similar crime. He told the Everett Police Department his vehicle had been broken into while he was moving. The 212 replacement ties he'd purchased after the January theft had been stolen, he said. He then filed an insurance claim for about $35,000.

But an adjuster with his insurance company, checking with the retailers, learned most of the replacement ties purchased in January had been returned to the stores almost immediately. Wopperer's claim was denied and reported to the Insurance Commissioner's Special Investigations Unit. The case then was referred to the Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation also revealed there had been a third claim. Nine years earlier, in 2000, Wopperer told the Lynnwood Police Department that his collection of 212 silk ties had been stolen from his vehicle while parked at a mall. His insurer at the time paid his $16,900 claim.