BUTLER TOWNSHIP — A Butler couple is charged with insurance fraud after one of them purposely drove into a tree, causing the vehicle to roll over, police say.

Shawn M. Criley, 31, and Virginia L. Criley, 32, both of Butler, also were charged with criminal conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. The fraud charges are felonies.

Shawn Criley also was charged with reckless driving, careless driving, and false reports.

Township police say the accident occurred at 11:37 p.m. Feb. 10, when Shawn Criley, with Virginia Criley as a passenger, drove a green 2013 Ford Explorer west on McCalmont Road.

According to police, the vehicle hit a tree and rolled, landing on its tires and causing severe damage to the vehicle.

That night, Shawn Criley told police he traveled onto the berm and could not prevent the Explorer from hitting the tree, and showed the police that the vehicle was insured with Progressive Insurance.

Progressive Insurance Investigator Larry Meta investigated the accident as an insurance fraud case, providing police transcripts of two phone calls.

One was of Virginia Criley on Feb. 11 at 12:03 a.m., reporting to Progressive Insurance that she was driving the Explorer. She said there was a significant amount of snow and that she was coming around a bend when the vehicle wanted to go straight, hit a tree and rolled over.

The other phone call took place on Feb. 16, and was between Shawn Criley and Progressive. He reported that he was driving the Explorer on McCalmont Road on Feb. 10 and said he was going around a bend, hit a patch of ice, an embankment, then a tree, which caused the vehicle to roll over.

Police spoke with Elijah Huellen, who was living with the Crileys at the time of the accident. Huellen said he overheard a conversation between the Crileys on the night of the reported accident in which they spoke about problems they were having with the Explorer and the subject of making the vehicle “disappear.”

Shawn Criley gave the keys to his other vehicle to Huellen and asked Huellen to follow him. Then, Criley drove the Explorer to McCalmont Road, where he drove up and down the road three times between Route 8 at the top of the hill to the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill.

Before the fourth time down the hill, Shawn Criley told Huellen that he was going to hit a tree on the right side of the road, and Huellen followed him by vehicle down the hill.

He said as the Explorer picked up speed, it struck a tree on a curve.

Shawn and Virginia Criley were interviewed at the Butler Township police station on June 8. Shawn admitted to wrecking the vehicle on purpose, and that he and Virginia had discussed it before his actions. They were having money issues and problems that were going to cost thousands of dollars to repair.

Virginia Criley corroborated what he said, stating that she had come home the night of Feb. 10 with the Explorer and couldn’t get it into the parking gear. The two discussed problems with the vehicle, and the initial plan was to drive it into a ditch.

Progressive Insurance says it is owed $28,477.77 in restitution for the insurance fraud.