Ronald J. Martineau pleaded innocent in Lawrence District Court last week to charges of filing a false motor vehicle insurance claim and larceny

An employee of Martineau's Towing Service created bogus invoices for towing and rental costs totaling $11,000 after a company vehicle was involved in a crash a year ago, police said.
A tractor owned by Martineau's was involved in a head-on accident on Haverhill Street on March 6, 2007.But Martineau's used its own vehicle to tow the tractor away and a replacement tractor to transport the trailer to its destination. It didn't pay other companies to tow the damaged vehicle or to replace it — as claimed in phony invoices that it faxed to Plymouth Rock Assurance Corp.Plymouth Rock insured the at-fault driver who crossed into the path of tractor driver Ronald J. Martineau, police said.Martineau, 44, of 7 Leonard Ave. in Salem, N.H., pleaded innocent in Lawrence District Court last week to charges of filing a false motor vehicle insurance claim and larceny over $250.If convicted on each count, Martineau could receive up to five years in state prison. He could also be fined up to $25,000 for the larceny charge and up to $10,000 for insurance fraud.Martineau declined to comment, citing the advice of his lawyer. Methuen attorney Peter Carrozza, who was hired to represent him, did not return a reporter's telephone call.Court documents show that Methuen police Detective Michael Blanchette cracked the case, working with a fraud investigator for Plymouth Rock. Blanchette has been the Methuen officer assigned to work on auto insurance fraud cases in recent months after the city began working with Lawrence's auto insurance fraud task force. The task force wasn't involved in this case.Martineau was not arrested. Instead, he was issued a court summons to be arraigned last week.The owners of the two companies that provided Martineau's with the invoices have not been charged and have given statements to police about their involvement.Blanchette began his investigation in April 2007 after receiving a complaint from a Plymouth Rock investigator.An employee for the towing company contacted Plymouth Rock, alleging that "Ron Martineau obtained blank tow invoice slips from Bauchman Towing Co. of Windham, N.H., and fraudulently completed them," Blanchette wrote in his report."These slips were for tows that were never made by Bauchman Towing Co.," the detective quoted the Martineau's employee as saying.
When confronted by Blanchette, Brian Bauchman, owner of Bauchman Towing, admitted his company never towed anything — contradicting what he initially told police. He also admitted he provided Martineau's with invoices used in the fraudulent claim, the detective wrote in his report.Blanchette's investigation determined the phony invoices also included several from a Haverhill-based company, SDJ Services, for rental of a tractor to replace the one damaged in the accident.
The detective noted in his report that the informant who worked for Martineau's "further stated that Martineau's had contacted the owner of SDJ Services, who was a friend, and asked him to print up some fraudulent invoices which would show that Martineau's rented a tractor within certain dates, so they could submit them to the insurance company."Gerald Dallaire of Methuen, owner of SDJ Services, denied that any of his company's invoices were fraudulent. He told Blanchette that Martineau had called him requesting that SDJ have a tractor on standby for Martineau's in case one was needed.Dallaire said he could not recall any of his rental trucks being dropped off at Martineau's or being picked up at his Haverhill office by Martineau's, according to the court document filed last week.Key testimony in the prosecution's case is a statement from a Martineau's driver who gave this account:Martineau's towed the damaged tractor back to its shop. The driver said he drove a tractor owned by Martineau's back to the accident scene, hooked up the trailer, and then proceeded with the delivery that Ronald Martineau was making just before the crash."He related that the trailer was never towed back to Martineau's facility right after the accident, as one of the fraudulent Bauchman Tow invoices states," Blanchette wrote in his report."(The driver) also stated he never towed the damaged tractor to Pepperell (Mass.) and to his knowledge, Martineau's Towing never leased or rented a tractor to replace the tractor involved in Ron's accident," the detective noted.Blanchette said he contacted Ronald and Raymond Martineau to be interviewed. But both declined.Ronald is listed as the secretary of Martineau's Towing & Recovery Corp. Raymond is listed as the treasurer of the company, based at 27 Haverhill St.