Faked Death Gets Fraud Conviction

Nev. Attorney General Brian Sandoval announced that District Judge Donald M. Mosley sentenced Purificacion Lobitos, age 56, to a maximum term of 32 months with a minimum term of 12 months in the Nevada Department of Corrections, for one count of felony conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

The term of incarceration was suspended and Lobitos placed on probation for three years. Lobitos was also ordered to reimburse the Insurance Fraud Unit (IFU) $1000.00 in investigative costs and $546.73 in extradition costs to the State of Nevada Extradition Unit.

In January 1998 and continuing through approximately July 27, 1998, in Clark County, Nevada, Purificacion Lobitos allegedly conspired with a co-defendant to submit false claims for life insurance benefits under Lobitos' term life insurance policies with Liberty Mutual and Prudential Insurance Companies, by maintaining that Lobitos had been killed in a vehicle -pedestrian accident in the Philippines. The policies were each worth $100,000.00.

Subsequent investigation by the IFU revealed that Lobitos reentered the United States from the Philippines through San Francisco and that a driver's license number D1651363 was issued to Purificacion Lobitos on Oct. 6, 1999.

According to a pre-sentencing report, Lobitos worked from 1998 to 2001 at an assembly plant in Fremont, California. She was arrested in California on Sept. 8 of this year by San Mateo Sheriff's Department and remained in jail until extradited from the State of California and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Sept. 18.

Calif. Duo Sentenced to Federal Prison

Two Southland men were sentenced to federal prison for their convictions on charges related to a scheme in which one embezzled money from his employer and funneled it to members of his softball team.

Angel Uribe, 33, of Ontario, Calif., was sentenced to 37 months in prison and was ordered to pay $298,000 in restitution. Jorge Riesgo, 39, of Pico Rivera, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and was ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution. Both men were sentenced by United States District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew in Los Angeles.

In February, Uribe pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering, admitting that he allegedly embezzled funds from his employer, Alexsis Risk Management Inc., of West Covina (Alexsis is a subsidiary of CNA Financial Company, and Alexsis is now called RSKCo). Uribe reportedly directed the fraudulent payments to sham entities created by his friends to receive the diverted funds. Uribe, who was a claims supervisor, arranged for Alexsis to issue numerous checks to companies that were run by friends of his, including Riesgo. The checks were purportedly for vocational rehabilitation services provided by the various sham companies.

After the checks were cashed, Uribe's friends returned up to 50 percent of the misappropriated funds to Uribe. Several of Uribe's friends were his teammates on a softball team that played weekly games, and they would return the funds to Uribe in cash at the games.

From 1996 until Sept. 1998, Uribe caused more than 300 fraudulent checks to be issued from Alexsis. The total value of the checks was more than $400,000. About half of the checks were allegedly paid to companies that had been set up by Riesgo, and Riesgo paid approximately 40 percent of those funds to Uribe. In February, Riesgo pleaded guilty to mail fraud.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and IRS-Criminal Investigation.