As soon as upon a time in Southern California, an individual wore a bear costume to wreck luxurious vehicles so buddies may allegedly money in on hefty insurance coverage payouts.
4 individuals within the Los Angeles space had been arrested and charged with insurance coverage fraud and conspiracy after claiming their fancy automobiles had been broken by a bear — just for insurance coverage investigators to find the destruction was really brought on by an individual sporting a bear costume.
The faux beast allegedly broke right into a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost on Jan. 8 that was parked simply northeast of Los Angeles at Lake Arrowhead within the San Bernardino Mountains, in accordance with the California Division of Insurance coverage Fraud Division.
The proprietor of the luxurious automobile submitted a video to the insurance coverage firm to seemingly show that the creature wrecked the automobile, however the Insurance coverage Division didn’t chunk.
“Upon additional scrutiny of the video, the investigation decided the bear was really an individual in a bear costume,” the California Division of Insurance coverage and Fraud revealed in a press release.
California Division of Insurance coverage
Ruben Tamrazian, Ararat Chirkinian, Vahe Muradkhanyan and Alfiya Zuckerman have all been charged with insurance coverage fraud and conspiracy.
“The insurance coverage firms had been defrauded of $141,839, due to the alleged fraud dedicated by the suspects,” the California Division of Insurance coverage acknowledged.
The state insurance coverage division additionally launched footage from what they name “Operation Bear Claw” — detailing the alleged animal manufacturing.
Surveillance video confirmed the alleged beast coming into the window of the Rolls-Royce’s passenger aspect however because it makes its approach into the again seat, the animal’s “fur” appeared very shiny and clean – prefer it was a halloween costume purchased at a retailer versus a creature within the wild.
Images launched by investigators revealed the inside of the Rolls-Royce had very straight and parallel marks damaging the seats and doorways, which the automobile proprietor claimed was from the bear’s claws.
A biologist from the California Division of Fish and Wildlife reviewed footage and urged it was an individual in a dressing up. Later, the bear costume was discovered within the suspects’ house after a search warrant was executed.
{A photograph} of the outfit confirmed what seemed to be a onesie with bear-like fur, attachable paws for the toes and arms and claw-like blades that seemingly may have been used to scratch the seats.
This incident wasn’t the one suspicious declare.
Detectives discovered two extra insurance coverage claims with two totally different insurance coverage firms the place the suspects used the identical date and site for his or her wild claims.
“Every of these claims concerned two totally different automobiles, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, and the suspects once more appeared to make use of a bear costume to make it seem {that a} bear additionally entered and broken these automobiles,” the California Division of Insurance coverage claimed.
Supply hyperlink