Southern California Crackdown! 15 Arrested In Connection With Insurance Fraud Ring
San Bernardino, California – The California Department of Insurance has revealed that fifteen people in Southern California, one of whom works for the California Highway Patrol, are suspected of being involved in an organized crime group that conspired to profit from over $350,000 worth of bogus vehicle insurance claims.
Rosa Isela Santistevan, 55, of Irvine, a non-sworn employee of the California Highway Patrol, was allegedly selling traffic crash reports that contained the personal information of people who had been involved in collisions throughout Southern California.
This information prompted the Inland Empire Automobile Insurance Task Force to launch an investigation in November 2022.
The residence of Pomona resident Esmeralda Parga, 26, was the subject of multiple search warrant executions, according to authorities, and more than 3,500 CHP traffic crash reports were found there.
The suspected ringleader, Andre Angelo Reyes, 36, of Corona, provided the authorities with the information they needed to connect Parga to Santistevan.
15 people are detained in a conspiracy involving insurance fraud in California
As per the California Department of Insurance, the 15 individuals under suspicion are suspected of being a members of an organized crime group that conspired to make money off of over $350,000 worth of bogus auto insurance claims.
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Reyes became friends with Santistevan and other CHP staff members by contributing to many CHP functions and gatherings, the investigation discovered. That’s when Reyes, who would later provide the traffic records to Parga, reportedly started buying and selling thousands of traffic reports that Santistevan printed.
Authorities stated that Parga would subsequently get in touch with the individuals whose details were included in the reports and pose as representatives of their insurance provider. Allegedly, Parga arranged for those cars to be hauled to repair facilities that falsely claimed to have been authorized by the insurance corporation.
Reyes and Parga, according to officials, would then send out tow trucks, the drivers of which were allegedly complicit in the plan, to pick up the cars and transport them to CA Collision, which is owned by Jurupa Valley resident Anthony Gomez, 35. Insurance companies were contacted and asked for financial payments to release the automobiles since they were “held hostage” after they arrived.
More evidence revealed that the purported criminal organization was engaged in various insurance fraud schemes, such as “collusive collisions.”
Authorities claimed to have found a video of one such crash on the phone of a suspect who had allegedly videotaped it. That footage shows one of the suspects purposefully ramming a BMW into a Polaris Slingshot. Authorities stated that there were two distinct crash reports.
Andre Angelo, 36, of Corona; Rosa Isela Santistevan, 55, of Irvine; Esmeralda Parga, 26; Anthony Gomez, 35, of Jurupa Valley; Ezequiel Baltazar Orozco, 30; Antonio Terraas Perez Jr., 19; Erika Garcia, 31; Israel Avila Sandoval, 45, of Pomona; Luis Alberto Ramirez Jr., 32, of San Bernardino; Robert Arzac, 49, of West Covina; Antonio Ramirez Perez, 44, of Los Angeles; Brian Anthony Lopez, 25; Emily Marie Boatman, 26; Pomona; and Steven Anthony Alfaro, 38, of Buena Park are the names of the 15 suspects.
Charges include insurance fraud, grand theft by deception, and false impersonation against all 15 of the accused, three of whom are not yet in jail. 19 bogus claims totaling $353,035 were allegedly involved in the allegations, according to officials.