Insurance fraud arrest linked to ‘Wilmington’s worst offender’

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – A Wilmington man is accused of letting someone borrow his car and then reporting it stolen after it was involved in a crash.

Joseph Raymond Johnson, 31, is charged with one count of insurance fraud.

Department of Insurance criminal investigators accuse Johnson of fraudulently reporting to Wilmington police and his insurance company that his vehicle was stolen before it was involved in an accident.

Investigators say in August, Johnson allowed Rashawn Herbert Hines to drive the vehicle. Hines got into an accident at Princess Place Drive and N. 30th Street, when he turned left in front of another car.

According to the police report, Hines ran off after the crash.

Inside the car, police found marijuana drug paraphernalia and an open bottle of beer.

Hines was arrested a couple of days later.

In October while on bond, Hines was arrested again on drugs charges. Police say he had more than 150 grams of crack cocaine, a 9mm handgun and over 170 grams of marijuana on him. Hines faces drug and possession of a firearm by a felon charges. .

Hines has been on the Wilmington Police Department’s radar since 2013.

That’s when Police Chief Ralph Evangelous called him one of Wilmington’s worst offenders.

Hines is in jail on a $1 million bond

Johnson was arrested Friday for insurance fraud and placed under a $5,000 bond.