View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2001/06/11/15339.htm
A Stockton, Calif. man and woman were arrested by investigators from the California Department of Insurance (CDI) on three felony counts each of insurance fraud.
Frankie Lopez II, 26, and Gina Marie Martino, 27, were arrested and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail, with bail set at $25,000. If convicted, the two could each receive up to five years in state prison and/or a maximum fine of $50,000.
Investigators allege that Lopez filed an insurance claim in July of 1998 with Cal Farm Insurance noting that his diving equipment was stolen from his vehicle while parked unattended in front of a sporting goods store in Fremont. Three months later, Lopez and Martino filed claims with Allstate Insurance and Agegis Security Insurance claiming that Lopez’s 1995 Acura LS was stolen from a Monterey parking lot. An insurance claim for the diving equipment was also allegedly placed as Lopez and Martino stated the equipment was inside the vehicle. The vehicle, partially burned with all of the dive equipment missing, was found a short time later. Agegis Security Insurance paid $9,567 on the claim.
CDI investigators allege Lopez and Martino filed claims listing some of the same dive equipment in both claims, and that the two allegedly listed diving equipment they never had in their possession. At a deposition, Lopez recanted his story and claimed that a number of the items he claimed during the alleged vehicle theft, in fact were not stolen.
As a result of these claims, Cal Farm Insurance and Agegis Security Insurance paid a combined amount of $16,363.