Fall out expected over fiery first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill and Prime Minister hopes to meet with leaders at APEC summit. Video / NZ Herald
A suspected fraudster dressed up in a bear costume before damaging cars in an insurance scam in the US.
Four people in Southern California were arrested for insurance fraud after making claims worth US$142,480 ($242,849) for bear damage on their cars, which included a Rolls-Royce.
After viewing videos of the so-called bear trashing several cars, California insurance department officials decided the guilty animal was a human being and not an ursine invader.
The Insurance Department said: “Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume.”
Investigators also showed the videos to a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who “opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit”.
The bear costume was retrieved from a suspect’s home in a raid. It had brown fur, a bear-shaped head, paws and metal hand tools.
Video footage of the inside of the car showed grooves in the seats and interior that suggested claw marks.
Insurance companies had paid out the claim after being told the bear entered and damaged a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost on January 8 before the investigation began.
Grooves on the seats and interior of the car appeared to resemble claw marks Credit: CA Department of Insurance
The car was parked at Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains about 96km northeast of Los Angeles.
The suspected fraudsters also submitted claims for damage to a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, with videos of the so-called rampaging bear.
All three claims gave a matching location and the same “date of loss”. The accompanying footage suggests the allegedly staged bear attacks occurred outside the same property, on the same night, but at different times.
All three claims gave the same location and ‘date of loss’ for the allegedly staged bear attacks. Photo / CA Department of Insurance
There are wild black bears, which –contrary to their name –can be brown in the San Bernardino Mountains, but grizzlies were hunted to extinction in the state of California in the 1920s.
Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, all of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, were arrested on charges of insurance fraud and conspiracy, NBC News reported.
A San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said on Wednesday that charges were submitted against the four people and were under review.
Insurance Department detectives were assisted by the Glendale Police Department and the California Highway Patrol.
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