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Now that we’ve got your attention…
Eight members of an insurance fraud ring were arrested for their alleged involvement in surgically stripping expensive cars in order to make fraudulent insurance claims. California Department of Insurance investigators believe that this is the largest auto insurance fraud ring in East Bay history.
Following indictments brought by the Contra Costa County DA’s office, the following arrests were made by DOI investigators:
Kelly Lewis of Richmond, Anissa Craig of Pleasant Hill, Ronnie Johnson of San Francisco, Mark Johnson of Vallejo, Terrance Leonard of Hercules, Stacy Taylor of Hercules, Vernice Bayne of San Pablo and David Hollimon of Hayward. Additional arrests are expected.
The arrests are the result of an ongoing investigation which began in 1995. Ray Robinson, one of the leaders of the fraud ring, was sentenced to three years in state prison on May 23, 1997.
The investigation revealed that these individuals are all part of a larger group that specializes in surgically stripping expensive new cars, such as BMWs and Acuras, in order to make false insurance claims. Members of the fraud ring would buy a new car, then have the car surgically stripped and report it stolen to the authorities. After the car is inspected by the insurance company and the claim is paid for the theft of the parts, the suspects would then have the original parts reinstalled in the car. Soon after, the suspects would go to the DMV and change the name on the title in order to remove the lien holder from the title certificate. This type of crime is commonly known as “title washing. “Once the new title is issued, the registered owner is able to sell the car or trade it in without paying off the existing loan. This results in a loss to the original lending institution.
In addition to their title-washing spree, one of the fraud ring members, Vernice Bayne, allegedly made a false armed robbery claim. She reported to the authorities that she was robbed in the parking lot of a Richmond mall. Bayne claimed that a large amount of jewelry was taken by the robbers, however, investigators later discovered that Bayne never owned the jewelry which she had reported stolen.
In all, the current arrests involve eight auto insurance claims and 14 title washes for an attempt to steal over $400,000. In the false robbery claim, the suspect falsely claimed an estimated loss of $29,000.
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