GONZALES - The owners of a private bus company that provides transportation for several schools in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans area face criminal charges after police found many of the business's insurance certificates were fraudulent. 

Louisiana State Police's insurance fraud office was first tipped off after one of the buses owned by Scholars First LLC, which is based out of Gonzales, was involved in minor crash in Orleans Parish in 2019. The two drivers involved exchanged insurance information, but it was later discovered the certificate given by a Scholars First employee was fake. 

The phony insurance card led State Police to investigate Scholars First, and investigators asked the company to hand over certificates of liability insurance. Police reached out to the insurance companies on each certificate provided to them and learned that the "majority" of them were fraudulent, according to a statement released Monday.

Investigators determined Michael Simon, 44, of New Orleans falsified insurance documents along with the owners of Scholar First, Melvin Williams of Gonzales and Jeramy Jackson of New Orleans, and gave them out to several charter schools.

Simon was booked on nine counts of computer fraud Sunday. Williams and Jackson are wanted on 23 counts of computer fraud each, according to State Police.