By SCOTT REESE WILLEY

Hometown Press

Thinking about hiding your vehicle and reporting it stolen so you can get the insurance money? Better disable its anti-theft security system first.

A Beaumont man pleaded guilty recently to helping a friend defraud an insurance company when they joined forces to hide a vehicle they had reported stolen.

The vehicle’s anti-theft device, which included a GPS locator, lead authorities to the vehicle that had been stashed on property owned by one of the men.

Phillip “Phil” Hallmark, 56, was sentenced to two years deferred adjudicated probation and 250 hours of community service in connection with the fraud case.

He was also fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $24,180.08 in restitution to the insurance company, and $231 in court costs.

Hallmark is accused of conspiring with a friend on July 18, 2006, “with intent to defraud State Farm Insurance Co., by filing a false or miseleading claim, according to the indictment.

Hallmark and his friend claimed the vehicle and its contents had been stolen from a parking lot in Winnie on that date, but “in fact they hid the vehicle in support of the theft claim,” according to court records.

Hallmark was indicted on May 13, 2010, on one count of insrance fraud, a third degree felony offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.See More District Court sentencings, Page 4.