SC man who got insurance payout after crash is now in jail, cops say. Here’s why
A Midlands man who claimed to be the victim of a hit-and-run crash was recently arrested after law enforcement officers determined that the accident he reported was staged, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Jakeem Jamal Samuel, a 21-year-old Sumter resident, was taken into custody on an insurance fraud charge, SLED said Monday in a news release.
On Feb. 26, Samuel was charged with presenting a false claim for insurance payment (value $10,000 or more), according to the release.
In October , 19-year-old Jamari Pringle and 44-year-old Ulanda Yarborough were charged with the same crime from the same incident, SLED said.
Samuel, Pringle and Yarborough reported to Progressive insurance a hit-and-run where a vehicle hit them from behind, forcing them off a road, according to an arrest warrant.
But the crash never happened, SLED said.
“All parties claimed injuries requiring medical treatment,” the arrest warrant said.
But both Progressive and SLED, at the request of the South Carolina Department of Insurance, conducted independent investigations. Those investigations determined that the hit-and-run accident “never occurred and was staged,” the arrest warrant said.
Samuel and Pringle made admissions to the investigators that led to that finding, according to the arrest warrant.
Progressive paid out $12,244.75 to cover medical bills and towing fees that were included in the false claim regarding the “staged accident,” the arrest warrant said.
SLED agents didn’t have to search very long to find Samuel when they went to charge him with the insurance crime. Samuel was being held at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center on unrelated charges, SLED said in the release.
On Jan. 28, Samuel was arrested and charged with armed robbery, possession of a weapon during violent crime, criminal conspiracy and first-degree assault and battery, Sumter County court records show. No bond was set on those charges from the violent crime, according to court records.
When he was arrested in January, Samuel was out on bond from a May 25, 2025, arrest when he was charged with multiple drug crimes, court records show. His bond on the combined charges was set at $25,000 and posted May 29, according to court records.
On the insurance fraud charge, Samuel will be prosecuted by the South Carolina Department of Insurance, SLED said.
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