Jerry Altieri isn't your average crime fighter.

He doesn't spend his days patrolling the streets and chasing down criminals -- he doesn't even carry a badge or a gun.

But from behind his computer at the Nationwide Insurance office near Peters Creek Road, Altieri, 52, has meticulously waged a statewide war against insurance fraud, a crime that nine out of 10 Virginians believe they are affected by, according to the Virginia State Police.

Altieri's hard work was recently recognized when he was presented with the second annual Virginia State Police Fraud Fighters Award.

"I feel humble about winning it," said Altieri, who has been instrumental in organizing seminars and workshops on insurance fraud.

"What he does is pretty important for the investigative community," said Sgt. Roger Rector of the Virginia State Police Fraud Investigation Program, which coordinates with nearly 800 insurance providers throughout the state to curb insurance fraud.

Altieri spent most of his early career in the Navy and eventually moved to local law enforcement, working as a police officer for 11 years in Roanoke. Before joining Nationwide, he was a criminal investigator for the Virginia Department of Commerce.

With a mouse in hand, Altieri spends his days as the special investigations manager for Nationwide, combing though insurance claims, taking note of suspicious ones and coordinating 15 other fraud investigators throughout the state.

Altieri has been at the forefront of fighting insurance fraud since he took the job with Nationwide in 2001.

Back then there was an air of lawlessness in Virginia regarding insurance fraud. Offenders ran rampant, Rector said, and state and local law enforcement agencies had few laws and policies in place to punish them. Prosecutors often had trouble digging up enough evidence to convict criminals in court. And there was no central office to coordinate information between agencies or to track frauds and crime rings throughout the state. For some, it was the dark ages for fighting fraud.

"I call it the 'shotgun approach,' where everyone is doing a piece and a bit," Rector said.

The bits and pieces never quite added up; the absence of a central organization to fight fraud eventually gave way to the state insurance fraud program in 1999. And according to Rector, Altieri was one of the many people who helped the program coordinate information and stay up-to-date on the latest tricks used by offenders.

"Jerry has gone the extra mile and then some," Rector said.

Altieri recalls one claim he investigated in 2004 in which an elderly woman had just parked her car in downtown Roanoke. Moments later, a man pulled up beside her car and began inspecting her bumper and then his. He eventually pulled off, but days later the woman was notified by her insurance company that a claim had been filed in which the man accused her of backing into his car and knocking the bumper off.

Altieri said he suspected foul play and went out to inspect the man's car.

"The bumper had been surgically removed, and he said that she had knocked the bumper off on his van," he said.

And that's just an average investigation.

Altieri has heard and seen it all, from people purposely setting their cars on fire to others who, in an attempt to get more money from insurers, have legitimate accidents but claim that additional passengers were in the car at the time of the accident.

Altieri said those kinds of fraud make insurance premiums more costly for everyone. A recent poll conducted by the Southeastern Institute of Research found that 90 percent of Virginians believe they are hurt financially by insurance fraud.

"When you have people who are perpetrating fraud, the people who are not pay for it," he said.

On one occasion, Altieri was working on a suspicious claim in Northern Virginia. A couple had persuaded a car dealership to allow them to test-drive a new car without a salesman present. When the couple left the lot, they were involved in an accident. They claimed that a faulty air bag in the car had unexpectedly deployed, blinding the driver and causing the accident. The couple held Nationwide Insurance and the car manufacturer responsible.

Altieri said an inspection of the car after the accident told a different story.

"It was determined that the air bag did not deploy until the accident occurred," he said.

It turned out the couple were scam artists who faked the accident and had a relative drive the other car. Altieri said the case was ultimately cracked by witnesses who gave their accounts of what happened.

He said it's important for people to understand that only a small percentage of policyholders perpetrate insurance fraud. He urges people to be aware of their surroundings when involved in an accident and to even carry disposable cameras for accuracy -- it saves both the policyholder and the insurer time and money, and helps deter fraudulent claims.

"If folks are involved in an automobile accident, be observant of who's there," he said. "There are a lot of people working to fight insurance fraud."