A Prospect teenager is facing a pair of felony charges in a suspected insurance scam.

Amy J. Parson, 19, is accused of buying additional coverage to an auto insurance policy last fall after she crashed her vehicle into a utility pole in Butler, and then submitting a claim with her insurance carrier that falsified the time of the accident, authorities said.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office on Thursday charged Parson following an investigation. District Judge Bill O'Donnell that same day arraigned her on felony charges of insurance fraud and attempted theft by deception. She is free on her own recognizance.

Agents with the attorney general's office insurance fraud section began their investigation after being notified by officials with Progressive Insurance about the claim Parson filed online Sept. 27, 2019.

In the claim, authorities said, she reported the crash happened around 7 p.m. Sept. 26 when she swerved her 2019 Jeep Renegade to avoid a cat on North Main Street and struck a telephone phone. The SUV's front passenger side sustained damage, which totaled $3,172.

Butler police and city firefighters, however, told investigators they were called for the crash about 2:35 p.m. Sept. 26. The tow truck operator's call for the SUV was 2:46 p.m.

Investigators also learned that Parson had canceled the collision and comprehensive insurance coverage on the vehicle Aug. 11, 2019. She reinstated that same coverage after contacting Progressive Insurance at 4:18 p.m. Sept. 26, authorities said.

State agents eventually spoke to Parsons at her home. She told them that she added collision and comprehension coverage on the Jeep on Sept. 26 after the accident, according to charging documents, “only because Progressive Insurance advised her to do so.”

When asked why she told the insurance carrier the accident happened at 7 p.m., instead of the actual time at around 2:30 p.m., documents said, “she could not remember the time of the accident.”

Parson's preliminary hearing is set July 22. Online court records did not list an attorney for her, and she could not be reached for comment.