Rockview, PA – 21 July 2018 – After receiving a letter from his credit union advising him of their intent to repossess his Jeep last December, a Monroe Township man’s Jeep was “surprisingly” stolen and left abandoned and burnt to a crisp. Now, he and another man face charges of insurance fraud as police claim that they both conspired to burn it rather than face repossession in December.
The two men, Eric Lee Dreibelbis, 48, of Monroe Township, and his nephew, Michael Lee Bailey, 46, were formally charged Wednesday with insurance fraud, reckless burning of property or vehicle, theft by deception, false reports and conspiracy stemming from the December 19th 2018 incident.
In an affidavit , State Police claimed that Dreibelbis had called police at 9:21 am on December 20 to report the Jeep as stolen, claiming that it had been locked and that he had both keys in his possession at the time. Dreibelbis told police that he had called the credit union too, believing that it may have been repossessed due to it’s delinquency and that he had only made a partial payment earlier that same week.
According to the affidavit, the missing Jeep was later located that afternoon by State Police at Rockview in Centre County and burnt to the ground, police began investigating it as an arson.
A week after his initial contact with the police, Dreibelbis called them to claim that his second key to the Jeep was missing and that he may have left it in the vehicle.
Police reported that in a later interview with Dreibelbis’ nephew, Bailey, who had been allegedly living at his uncle’s residence for a few months, that Bailey stated that he was at his brother’s house at a party on the night of the alleged theft and did not return until 10 am December 20th, well after police were called to the home in response to the theft call.
In January, Dreibelbis admitted in an interview that he had moved to Monroe Township two years earlier from the area where the vehicle was recovered and that he still has family in that area.
Dreibelbis also admitted that the week the vehicle was stolen, he had received a letter from the lender, PSECU, that the Jeep would be repossessed if he did not bring his account payments to a current status.
Police interviewed a PSECU loan fraud investigator in March, who reported that PSECU was to lose about $21,000 as a result of this loan and had provided documents that showed Dreibelbis had made two auto loan applications within a two week period that alleged his income almost twice the prior amount from the Jeep loan.
The affidavit showed that Police received mobile phone records from both Bailey and Dreibelbis in May, which were then submitted for mapping analysis.
The affidavit reported that the triangulation analysis of the phone’s locations tracked Bailey driving up to where the Jeep was found in Centre County and then back to his residence. Numerous calls were then placed to Bailey from Dreibelbis before reporting the Jeep stolen.
On Thursday, Dreibelbis was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Mark Martin, who set bail at $8,000 cash, which he posted. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.
As of Friday morning, Bailey had not yet been arraigned on charges.
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