Auto Glass Business Caught in Fraud Sting

A sting operation by the state Bureau of Automotive Repair has resulted in a sentence of 450 hours of community service for the owner of a Sun Valley automotive glass business.

Larry Paul Boland, 64, who was operating D&L; Auto Glass on Lankershim Boulevard at the time of the investigation, was sentenced to community service and also ordered to pay $4,868 in investigative costs after he pleaded no contest Thursday in an insurance fraud case. The matter arose out of a check by bureau investigators of auto repair shops that claim in phone book advertising to accept insurance work.

Aided by an insurance company that agreed to establish fictitious auto policies, undercover bureau agents took three cars to D&L; Auto Glass for windshield repair, according to the city attorney’s office.

In each case, D&L; Glass billed the insurance company charges from 35% higher to more than double the original repair price quoted by Boland, said P. Greg Parham, a prosecutor in the city attorney’s Consumer Protection Unit.

Boland, of Canyon Country, pleaded no contest in Los Angeles Municipal Court to one count each of presenting a fraudulent insurance claim and working as an unlicensed auto repair dealer.

“Most reputable auto repair facilities know the [bureau] routinely scans the phone books looking for businesses which state they accept insurance claims and then the [bureau] samples those businesses,” said Parham.