In California 20 individuals were arrested for involvement in an auto insurance fraud in the Greater Los Angeles area as per reports by the California Department of Insurance. There are three more arrest warrants pending in connection with the same fraud. These arrests have been made after culmination of the investigation after a two-year period by the CDI Fraud Division. The losses incurred could run to a tune of $1 million. According to the CDI the suspects would be charged with fraud and conspiracy as well as various acts of felony.
On September 4, 2009, the detectives in the Fraud Division had served a search warrant to Noberto De Jesus Rivas (38) at his residence while he was still in custody due to other pending charges. During the search operations detectives chanced upon incriminating documents and evidence which included various files and records that Rivas had kept connected to multiple fraud insurance claims. The CDI detectives served other search warrants on April 10, 2010 at Wilshire Health-Care Center as well as the residence of Albert Lee Ingram (62). According to the CDI detectives Ingram and Rivas had conspired to work on this fraud insurance scheme. False medical reports were produced by Ingram where invoices were generated on behalf of claimants that either never existed or those that never received any treatment according to the CDI.
Rivas is supposedly the main suspect and he filed insurance claims by posing as either one of the claimants or a relative of the claimant. He either corresponded directly to the insurance company or via telephone and thereby avoided detection. Most of these collisions were fabricated in order to claim insurance from these insurance companies. Rivas further enhanced claims which had simple property damage to serious bodily injury claims.
These so-called ‘real claimants’ in the false collision claims in most cases had been involved right from the start in this fraud and Rivas had helped them make money. Both Ingram and Rivas received 1/3rd of the settlement amount and the claimants received the rest of the 1/3rd. In cases where the claimants simply did not exist, Ingram and Rivas split the amount 50/50.
The agencies that assisted were the LA District Attorney Auto Fraud Investigators, California Highway Patrol Investigators, Orange County Auto Theft Task Force, and other agencies as well.
The insurance companies that assisted in the investigation were 21st Century Insurance, Mercury Insurance, Commerce West, and many others who were victims of this fraud.
