A Jefferson Township man is accused of felony insurance fraud.

Troy Lee Cutwright, 32, faces a hearing next month on charges he fraudulently obtained auto insurance after a two-vehicle crash earlier this year in Butler.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office last week charged Cutwright in the case.

The investigation followed an accident about 4:35 p.m. March 10 on Chestnut Street where the defendant's car struck a sport utility vehicle.

The two drivers pulled over and exchanged information, investigators said. Cutwright gave the other driver a Progressive Insurance policy number.

But the defendant admitted that while at the scene, according to court documents, he learned that his insurance was no longer valid.

He called Progressive and obtained new insurance with a new policy number.

Later that evening, investigators said, he sent the other driver a Facebook message claiming he had given her the wrong policy number. He gave her the number for the newly acquired policy.

The other driver also was covered by Progressive Insurance. A damage estimated by Progressive on March 14 listed the damage to her SUV at $1,608.87.

Cutwright told a special agent with the attorney general's office that when Progressive called him for details of the accident, documents said, “he lied,” telling the company he obtained his policy “before he left for work and then got into the accident.”

But he eventually acknowledged he obtained the policy after the accident and “provided false information to get the damages to (the other driver's) vehicle paid for.”

District Judge Sue Haggerty on Wednesday arraigned Cutwright on a felony charge of insurance fraud and a misdemeanor charge of theft. He was later released on his own recognizance.

His preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 20 at Haggerty's office in Saxonburg.