The owner of the Pig Farm in Parker was charged Wednesday with insurance fraud related to his business in 2016.

Larry Lint, 53, of Champion, Fayette County, was arrested and arraigned Wednesday before District Judge Lewis Stoughton.

In the charging documents, investigators from the state Attorney General's Office included a recommendation to file charges issued Dec. 31 by the 46th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury.

According to the documents, Lint sought payment on three fraudulent claims from Nationwide Insurance Co., through which he had an agribusiness insurance policy since 2007.

The business is a 43-acre hunting preserve, where customers could pay to hunt deer and wild Eurasian boars.

“Had the fraud not been discovered, Lint would have been paid in excess of $300,000 in funds to which he was not entitled,” said the grand jury document.

According to testimony from investigators, Lint filed three claims between January and August 2016. The documents said in all three claims Lint cited damage to an “8 to 10” foot fence surrounding the preserve that also unleashed multiple hogs and some deer.

The documents said the first claim included 100 missing boars and 62 missing deer, and Lint received about $50,000.

In the second claim, Lint allegedly received $21,000 for 44 missing boars. An amount was not listed in the documents for the third claim, but it was noted that Lint was not awarded for a claim that included 68 escaped boars.

According to documents, Lint called customer service for the insurance company for each claim, and the representative who took the call on his first claim was the same as the one who took his third claim.

“(The representative) became suspicious due to the fact that it was the third similar claim filed in a seven-month period,” according to the grand jury document.

A special investigator from Nationwide began looking further into the claims, which eventually led to the larger grand jury investigation.

In addition to information from the insurance company, after the first claim, the Department of Agriculture's Feral Hog Task Force also investigated the loose boars.

According to documents, feral swine are not native to the state, and they can create havoc on local ecosystems because of their eating patterns, called “rooting.”

The documents said to search for the “100 boars,” they used bait, trail cameras, thermal imaging and helicopter flyovers.

“At the conclusion of the six months, no boar and/or evidence of boar were located,” the grand jury document said.

Also laced throughout the document were testimonies from neighbors, friends and former employees, who all said they never observed loose boars or damage from boars outside the preserve.

The grand jury document also included a text message from Lint to a friend to whom he owed money, in which he asked his friend to play along as he filed bankruptcy and insurance claims.

“ ... I talked to three different people when we're going to show their insurance company file the chapter 12 and screw the insurance company and come out a winner on top ...,” said an excerpt of the message in court documents.

A former employee also testified to overhearing Lint talking with a friend about cutting a hole in the fence. The employee also accused Lint of not properly documenting the number of boar on the property.

“Larry was going into debt that day (referring to Dec. 31, 2015),” said a direct quote from the employee in the document. “He didn't have money to pay his loans and stuff.”

Lint's defense attorney, Tom Farrell of Pittsburgh, said Thursday he did not have a comment at this time.

Lint has been charged with eight felonies: three counts of insurance fraud claims, three counts of theft by deception, one count of insurance fraud and one count of perjury.

Lint is scheduled to appear next in court April 20 before Stoughton.