VISALIA
California
More than 60 men and women have been swept up in a five-county dragnet across the Central Valley on insurance fraud and related charges.
“Today’s arrests have dealt a death blow to these elaborately organized schemes. By working together, we’ve crippled their ability to continue their concerted rip-off of the system,” says California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
The arrests were made in Kern, Kings, Tulare, Fresno and Merced counties.
The crimes include:
• Fraudulent insurance claims for aftermarket stereo equipment, custom wheels and tires, and performance parts.
• Organized automobile insurance fraud rings which involved vehicles that were set afire by either the owner or associates in an attempt to destroy the vehicle beyond repair and dispose of any evidence.
• There were six cases involving family members or close friends who conspired to dispose of their vehicles to collect insurance benefits to which they were not entitled, or conceal the identity of an excluded driver to obtain insurance benefits.
• Workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud.
“The large number of suspects arrested is indicative of the magnitude of insurance fraud. It concerns me to see our citizens paying higher premiums and increased consumer prices due to criminals taking advantage of the insurance system,†says Fresno County District Attorney Elizabeth Egan.
Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II adds, “The scope of this investigation underscores the regional nature of organized insurance fraud activities. test viagra tinc tinc viagralolspistols â€