His Past Comes Back to Haunt Him
On June 5, Santiago Arteaga Ramirez was arrested on insurance fraud charges.
CDI fraud investigators discovered that the 34-year-old man was involved in an auto accident last year while driving a truck for a landscaping company and claimed injuries to his neck and back. Ramirez denied prior injuries to these body parts in follow-up medical exams, yet investigators learned that he had been in a previous accident in Long Beach in 1991 in which he claimed similar injuries. Also in 1992, Ramirez claimed injuries to his shoulder, neck and lower back as a result of an industrial injury while working for another landscaping company. And if that wasn't enough, in 1993, Ramirez claimed he injured his shoulder and back while working for Anaheim Foundry.
During a 1997 deposition, Ramirez denied being able to do various activities, including raking and trimming trees. CDI fraud investigators interviewed Ramirez' doctors and they said they felt Ramirez made material misrepresentations to them when he concealed his past medical history.
Life in the Fast Lane
Three Southern California residents— Raul Eduardo Pero, 58; Monique Liza Pero, 24, Raul's daughter; and Emma Gloria Alcaraz (a.k.a. Gloria Emma Barrett), 65, of Los Angeles—have been charged with insurance fraud for their alleged involvement in a life insurance fraud scam.
CDI fraud investigators found that from Jan. 9, 1995, to March 1, 1997, Raul Pero, a.k.a. Paul Terry Reed, obtained life insurance policies from seven different insurance companies valued at $3,150,000. Raul Pero did not accept a policy he applied for through First Colony Life valued at $700,000 and he cancelled a second policy issued by Zurich Kemper Life valued at $500,000. Excluding these two policies, he was left with $1,950,000 worth of policies from six different companies.
His daughters, Shannon and Monique Pero, nephew Joseph Kreitinger, and girlfriend Martha Ibarra were listed as the benefactors of Pero's policies. These policies were in effect at the time claims were made for death benefits.
The investigation of documents indicated that Gloria Alcaraz notified the company of Raul Pero's alleged death. By the time Raul Pero tried to call the companies to tell them the claims were submitted in error, it was too late.
During the course of the investigation, it was established that Raul Pero applied for a U.S. passport under the name Paul Terry Reed. Reed was an 18-year-old man who died on April 20, 1968, in an auto accident. Pero used Reed's birth certificate and social security number when applying for the
passport, assuming the identity of a deceased person to facilitate his fraudulent activities.
