Spokane County sheriff’s deputy charged with insurance fraud

Spokane County sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy B. Jeske has been charged with two counts of insurance fraud after an investigation by the state insurance commissioner’s Special Investigations Unit.

Jeske has been on paid administrative leave from his job since early June. He has been with the Sheriff’s Office for 15 years.

According to court documents, Jeske owned a 1999 Fleetwood Wilderness travel trailer stored under a metal carport on property near Priest Lake, Idaho. He purchased an insurance policy from State Farm for the trailer in March and in April filed a claim for $14,166. Jeske told the insurance company that the carport collapsed on the trailer due to wind and snow and emailed photos of the damage.

State Farm used electronic data embedded in the photos to determine that the photos were taken three days before Jeske purchased the policy on the trailer, which was a month before he filed the insurance claim, according to court documents.

Jeske also submitted a claim to Safeco Insurance for the collapsed carport, which he said was located on his property in Davenport, Washington, court documents say.

When Safeco became aware of the State Farm claim, an employee contacted Jeske to arrange a meeting at the Davenport property to view the damage, according to court documents. At that point Jeske tried to reverse his claim, calling it a “misunderstanding,” documents say.

Mike Ricketts, of the Spokane County Deputies Association, declined to comment on the case.

Earlier this week, Knezovich fired Deputy Charles Sciortino after he billed Best Buy for security work he didn’t actually perform, according to Knezovich.