Three Southern California residents have been sentenced in a bizarre insurance fraud scheme that prosecutors say involved them staging fake bear attacks on high-end cars. It all stems from a claim the suspects filed with their insurance company, saying a bear got into their car — a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost — at Lake Arrowhead and damaged the inside with scratches. The California Department of Insurance said the suspects provided a video to the company, which showed the “bear” in the car. An investigation dubbed “Operation Bear Claw” took a closer look at the video and found that the bear was actually a person in a bear costume. Biologists at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that the fake bear was clearly a human in a bear suit. All three residents were sentenced to 180 days in jail and ordered to pay restitution. Officials say the total cost to the insurance company was $141,839.
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| Ruben Tamrazian, Vahe Muradkhanyan and Alfiya Zuckerman |
