Finally - A Good News Radio Story!

[Glen Livingstone]

Let's say you've had a hard day at the office and you got stuck in a massive traffic jam on the way home.

Or maybe the idiot kid at the McDonald's drive-thru window forgot to include the fries with your meal and you didn't discover the error until you'd long since left the restaurant.

But then you finally do get home, pull your now cold burger out of its bag, and crack open the newspaper to find a heartwarming story like the following to let you know that yes, all is right with the world.

I hope that all of you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed cutting and pasting it from a little thing I like to call the internet.

Pluto

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By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER

Former KIRO radio personality Mike Webb committed fraud by filing a claim on an insurance policy that "didn't exist" after a minor traffic accident last year, a King County prosecutor said Wednesday.

"This is a story about Mike Webb's attempt to fool" Seattle police, the National Insurance Bureau and Geico Insurance Co., prosecutor Nancy Balin told jurors in her opening statement.

The case stems from an accident June 28, 2005, involving Webb's Lexus in which it was determined that he was not at fault, Balin said.

One day later, Balin said Webb got an Internet quote and bought a Geico insurance policy for $151. On June 30, he sent an e-mail to Geico seeking a copy of his policy that he claimed he had signed up for the day of the accident, she told the jurors.

"The defendant made a claim on a policy that didn't exist," Balin said.

Webb's attorney reserved his opening statement for later in the trial. But Webb later called the allegations "categorically false."

Citing Geico computer records, Balin rebutted Webb's claim that he got the insurance quote in late May and bought a policy at that time. Webb's policy number, she said, is consistent with policies initiated in June, "not in May, and not before this accident."

A document Webb produced showing a May inception date for the policy has Geico's logo in the wrong font, the prosecutor said.

In addition, bank records support the company's assertion that the policy was bought after the accident, she said.

After an investigation, Geico refused to pay the $6,000 damage claim on the Lexus.

"In the end, he didn't fool anybody," Balin said. "And he's not going to fool you," she said, asking the jury to find Webb guilty of filing a fraudulent insurance claim.

KIRO fired Webb after he was charged with the felony. The talk-show host had the station's 9 p.m.-to-1 a.m. slot before losing his job.

Webb said Wednesday that he's still on the air for 25 stations as host of a syndicated talk show.