(Raleigh, NC – Insurance News 360) – Two Fayetteville residents were arrested in late December on charges of insurance fraud and trying to get property under false pretenses in Lee County, in a case related to a January 2015 motor vehicle accident.

Brian Thomas Bright, 39, was arrested on Dec. 22, while Althea M. Smith was arrested on Dec. 23. Both Fayetteville residents were held on a $50,000 bond. North Carolina’s Department of Insurance investigators allege that Bright and Smith made false statements about a motor vehicle accident that ooccured on Jan. 16, 2015, in an attempt to commit fraud and obtain payment from Sentry Insurance.

Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced the arrests on Jan. 6.

Source: North Carolina Department of Insurance.