Roofing Insurance ‘Storm Chaser’ Arrested in Fla; Targeted Ill. Residents

A fraudster on the lam for insurance fraud, who left roofing customers in the lurch, is picked up in hurricane-raved Florida

Scott A. Lennington (pictured) has been accused of defrauding Illinois residents in an insurance roofing scam. — Scott A. Lennington has been accused of defrauding Illinois residents in an insurance roofing scam and was captured in Florida.
— Image courtesy of the QPD/Treasure Island PD

Law enforcement in Pinellas County, Fla., arrested a man last Friday who was accused of defrauding Illinois residents in an insurance roofing scam.

The suspect, Scott Lennington, 48, posed as an insurance adjuster doing roof repair following a June hailstorm in Quincy, Ill., a city of roughly 40,000 located mid-state on the Mississippi River.

According to KHQA-TV, which first reported the story, Lennington allegedly defrauded at least 10 homeowners and, following a police investigation, was indicted by an Adams County, Ill., grand jury. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Investigators learned that Lennington had traveled to Florida following the recent hurricanes. Detectives successfully pinpointed Lennington's location, and on Dec. 13, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office members and the Treasure Island Police Department arrested him.

The Quincy Police Department said the subject would allegedly work with the victim’s insurance company to get a claim for roof damage, never return to do the work, and forge the victims’ names on the checks.

Lennington is cooling his heels in the Pinellas County Jail and is believed to have warrants out of other jurisdictions for similar offenses.

The estimated loss is alleged to be nearly $225,000.

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Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).

Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction, and community issues. He has worked at Adweek, managed a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif., and reported on finance, law, and real estate for the San Diego Daily Transcript. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and was managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage.

Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure projects, new products and business.