Fraud Suspect to Surrender

A man who police say buried his 1988 Cadillac Allante convertible under tons of tree clippings to collect on insurance has said he will turn himself in today, authorities said.

William Dunlap, the car’s owner and a co-owner of The Wood Yard, instructed his office manager to tell authorities that he would surrender when he returns from a Texas business trip, according to Gregory A. Hutchinson, a senior special agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Dunlap told the same office manager, Carol Burks, that he did not know how his car got into the 2 1/2-acre heap, Burks said Wednesday. Dunlap received $24,000 from Farmers Insurance Exchange when he reported the car stolen in July, 1992, Hutchinson said.

Acting on a tip, police Wednesday found the mangled shell of the black car after spending the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday digging through the decomposing branches and leaves.

“If he had been there he would have been arrested,” said Hutchinson, who works with the Valley’s Auto Theft Task Force. “He has got a lot of explaining to do.”