With Friends Like That...
On Oct. 31, Mirna Angelica Alfaro of Los Angeles was arrested on charges of selling automobile insurance without a license. The 30-year-old woman was charged with three counts of acting in the capacity of an insurance broker and solicitor without a valid license from the CDI. She allegedly operated two unlicensed insurance agencies, Angie's Travel and Insurance Services and Auto Casa Insurance.
Alfaro operated her agency in conjunction with formerly licensed broker Hector Antonio Benavente, who operated a separate Auto Casa Insurance Services. Benavente, 48, who was not arrested but gave his promise to appear in court, had his license revoked by the CDI in 1999 for numerous insurance code violations, including aiding and abetting unlicensed persons to transact insurance.
According to CDI investigators, Benavente was continuing to act as a licensed broker and had aided and abetted Alfaro to illegally write insurance coverage. Benavente was charged with 10 counts of acting as an insurance broker without a valid license.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case. If convicted, Benavente could face up to one year in jail with fines of up to $5,000. Alfaro could receive up to a year in jail and fines of up to $1,500. Benavente was scheduled to appear for arraignment on Nov. 15, 2000, in Superior Court, Los Angeles Judicial District.
Dubious Duo Work the System
On Nov. 1, Bakersfield residents Lonzoe Richard Hart, 64, and Barbara Jean Cornelius, 52, were arrested on workers' compensation fraud charges.
Hart and Cornelius were booked into Kern County Jail on 23 felony counts following an 18-month investigation by the CDI's Criminal Investigations Bureau, the Kern County District Attorney's Office, the Department of Motor Vehicles and auditors from the Employment Development Department (EDD), which revealed underreporting of wages paid to employees.
The complaint alleges that Hart and Cornelius made misrepresentations of wages paid to employees to the State Compensation Insurance Fund and EDD.
It further alleges that the two conspired to misrepresent facts to State Fund, causing a loss of more than $35,000 in premiums. EDD auditors assessed more than $69,000 for underreported payroll taxes and penalties.
If convicted, Hart and Cornelius could face up to 19 years in state prison. Bail for each was set at $25,000.
The Kern County District Attorney's Office is prosecuting the case.
More Nabbed in 'Operation Blown Engine' Fraud Ring
The efforts of FBI agents and Los Angeles police officers have led to the arrest of 12 people involved in a highly organized fraud ring that staged auto accidents to steal millions of dollars from insurance companies.
The arrests were the result of a dragnet throughout Southern California, Sacramento and Nevada. Sam "Niko" Lahooti, the man suspected of being the head "capper," or person who organized the potentially dangerous accidents and recruited bogus victims to file insurance claims, was arrested.
The scam also involved two chiropractors, Hamid Manesh, 39, of Diamond Bar, and Mehrdad Ahrablou, 39, of Los Angeles, who would "treat" the purported victims and then file inflated medical bills. Both the capper and doctors were alleged to have received much of the money.
In all, 17 people were charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud through a network of attorneys, office administrators, medical clinics and recruits, known as "claimants." The dragnet was the culmination of a long-term initiative by the FBI dubbed "Operation Blown Engine," part of a multi-agency initiative to rein in fraudulent claims that are estimated to cost billions of dollars a year in the U.S. Roughly one in five dollars in insurance payouts goes toward fraudulent and illegal claims.
Pay to the Order Of
Elvira Marcela Santamaria of Baldwin Park, Calif., turned herself in to the Tulare Superior Court, Visalia Division, after learning a five-count auto insurance fraud and grand theft warrant had been issued for her arrest.
The 22-year-old woman was hired in January 2000 as a contract employee by the Farmers Insurance claims office in Visalia. She was responsible for issuing auto insurance claim checks to insureds and claimants. After two months of employment, a fellow employee discovered that a claim check had been issued to Santamaria despite her not being a party to the loss.
When confronted, she initially denied responsibility, but later admitted to Farmers Insurance auditors and District Attorney investigators that she issued a total of five claim checks to herself between March 2000 and April 2000, without authorization, from five different auto claims totaling more than $2,400. Prior to the criminal complaint being filed, Santamaria paid back the funds she had taken from Farmers.
