As soon as upon a time in Southern California, an individual wore a bear costume to wreck luxurious vehicles so pals might allegedly money in on hefty insurance coverage payouts.
4 folks within the Los Angeles space have been arrested and charged with insurance coverage fraud and conspiracy after claiming their fancy automobiles have been broken by a bear — just for insurance coverage investigators to find the destruction was truly brought on by an individual carrying 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, based on the California Division of Insurance coverage Fraud Division.
The proprietor of the posh automotive submitted a video to the insurance coverage firm to seemingly show that the creature wrecked the car, however the Insurance coverage Division didn’t chew.
“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” the California Division of Insurance coverage and Fraud revealed in an announcement.
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 companies were defrauded of $141,839, because of the alleged fraud committed 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 getting into the window of the Rolls-Royce’s passenger aspect however because it makes its means 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.
Pictures launched by investigators revealed the inside of the Rolls-Royce had very straight and parallel marks damaging the seats and doorways, which the automotive proprietor claimed was from the bear’s claws.
A biologist from the California Division of Fish and Wildlife reviewed footage and instructed it was an individual in a dressing up. Later, the bear costume was discovered within the suspects’ residence 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 ft and palms and claw-like blades that seemingly might have been used to scratch the seats.
This incident wasn’t the one suspicious declare.
Detectives discovered two further 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.
“Each of those claims involved two different vehicles, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, and the suspects again appeared to use a bear costume to make it appear that a bear also entered and damaged those vehicles,” the California Division of Insurance coverage claimed.
