Jones County commissioner’s wife and her brother indicted in Bibb RICO, insurance fraud case

The wife of a Jones County commissioner and her brother were indicted Tuesday, charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by allegedly conspiring to commit insurance fraud in 2011.

Arleatha Battle Martin, 43, and Christopher Lorenzo Battle, 39, are each charged with 25 counts of insurance fraud, three counts of identity fraud and 25 counts of theft by taking, according to an indictment filed in Bibb County Superior Court Tuesday.

The siblings are accused of misappropriating more than $73,000 from nearly two dozen claims, according to the indictment.

An attempt to reach Martin’s husband, commissioner Daylon Martin, was unsuccessful.

According to the indictment:

Between May 24, 2011, and Dec. 2, 2011, Martin was employed as an Allstate Insurance company claims adjuster who handled automobile damage claims and had authority to issue claim payments.

Battle, a Locust Grove contractor and CEO of Mechanical Energy Solutions Inc., received money from “a number of claims” filed with the insurance company although neither Battle nor Mechanical Energy Solutions had provided services or materials, or experienced losses that could be compensated.

In 2015, the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s office told The Telegraph Martin filed documents saying three of Battle’s children had been injured in an April 2011 school bus accident in Douglas County and a $6,375 check was issued for their injuries.

Investigators determined the children weren’t on the bus at the time of the crash.

Tuesday’s indictment includes allegations about the school bus accident claim.

Jail records show Martin and Battle were arrested April 24, 2015.

Martin was released on $57,850 bond the same day. Her brother was released on $27,700 bond May 11.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Jones County commissioner’s wife and her brother indicted in Bibb RICO, insurance fraud case."