Elyria man indicted in insurance fraud case

An Elyria man was indicted Feb. 14 after police said his plan to destroy his own car was uncovered.

Randall D. White, 52, was charged with insurance fraud, inducing panic, three counts of making false alarms and a single count of falsification in connection to the alleged scheme.

Elyria police said White’s black 2018 Kia Sorrento was found upside down in the Black River near Ford Road by a golfer who’d played the course a day prior and not noticed it.

White had reported the car stolen at 2:50 a.m. the night before.

When Elyria firefighters rappelled down the cliff to check out the vehicle, no one was in the car and there was no evidence a driver was ejected, police said.

White had claimed he had parked the car in front of his Fox Hill Lane apartment at 6:30 p.m. the day prior and had locked the door, police said.

When his girlfriend came home at 1:30 a.m., she said the car wasn’t there, police said.

White had claimed he kept a spare key attached underneath the Kia and believed that was how the car was stolen, detectives said.

After an investigation, officers viewed video of a person pushing the car into the ravine.

Through other evidence, they discovered the person who’d pushed the car was White, police said.

White is free on $15,000 bond and is scheduled for arraignment Feb. 21 in Lorain County Common Pleas Court.

White