PHILADELPHIA — Forty-one people are facing charges for what prosecutors say is a bizarre insurance fraud scheme using dead deer to fake car accidents.

The Philadelphia district attorney's office said 63-year-old Ronald Galati Sr. and the other suspects are charged in connection with an alleged $5 million scam run out of Galati's south Philadelphia collision shop.

District Attorney Seth Williams alleged Wednesday that Galati, the alleged ringleader, coached customers to claim they'd struck a deer rather than a car.

Investigators said Galati stored deer carcasses, blood and fur in the back of his shop to use as props.

Also charged are Galati's wife, son and daughter, several insurance adjusters, tow truck drivers, a city official and a Philadelphia police officer.

Galati's attorney Anthony Voci said his client is innocent until proven guilty.

WAYNESBURG — A jury has acquitted a former miner of charges of having smoked a cigarette in a mine almost two years ago.Greene County jurors acquitted 52-year-old Donald Adams Jr. of Spraggs on Wednesday.He had been charged with risking a catastrophe, recklessly endangering another person and criminal violations of the Bituminous Coal Mine Act.Adams was part of a four-man crew laying pipe in the Emerald Mine in Franklin Township in August 2012 when two of the men found a cigarette butt.