NEW ORLEANS — Two more defendants have pleaded guilty in a 2017 staged automobile collision scheme in New Orleans, according to the U.S Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
37-year-old Herbert Allen and 23-year-old Dion Ridley pled guilty to one count of charging conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
In June of 2017, Allen and Ridley schemed with Damien Labeuad, Roderick Hickman, and others to collide Allen's car with a tractor-trailer in New Orleans.
Both Allen and Ridley lied in their depositions in an attempt to secure settlements from the owner, driver, and insurer of the tractor-trailer.
The defendants face a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
The scheme, known as Operation Sideswipe, has seen 41 total convictions as of Allen and Ridley's guilty pleas.
Allen and Ridley will be sentenced on February 15, 2023.
