12 ARRESTED IN INSURANCE SCAM.Byline: - Staff and Wire Services A dozen people, including four from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , have been arrested in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County as part of an interstate auto insurance fraud ring that staged collisions using rental cars, authorities said Tuesday. The scam, which authorities dubbed Operation Rent and Wreck, involved more than 110 staged collisions and defrauded insurers out of more than $2.5 million, authorities said. Agents from the California Department of Insurance The California Department of Insurance (CDI), established in 1868, is the angency charged with overseeing the regulation of insurance regulations, enforcing statutes mandating consumer protections, educating consumers, and fostering the stability of insurance markets in the state , the California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced the arrests during a Tuesday press conference at the CDI's downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or office. ``It is a great success to have a ring like this taken off the streets,'' said CHP CHP Chapter CHP Combined Heat and Power CHP California Highway Patrol CHP Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Turkish: Republican People's Party) CHP Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA) CHP Community Health Plan Sgt. Troy Lukkes, who had three investigators assigned to the case. ``They were costing insurers millions of dollars.'' The CDI's Urban Auto Fraud Task Force led the three-year investigation into the staged collision ring, which included attorneys, doctors, chiropractors and other suspects who allegedly submitted phony claims and medical bills, said Norman Williams of the California Department of Insurance. ``Suspects allegedly traveled to Phoenix to recruit drivers to stage collisions with rental vehicles containing as many as three or four passengers,'' Williams said. ``Most collisions took place late at night in busy Los Angeles intersections.'' Among the suspects arrested were Ahmed Khan, 39, of Valley Village; attorney Keith D. Washington, 39, of Reseda; Dr. Clifford A. Davis, 75, of Encino; and chiropractor chiropractor a practitioner in chiropractic. chiropractor A health professional trained in chiropractic; chiropractors do not perform surgery or prescribe drugs; of 50,000 licensed chiropractors in the US, many practice 'straight' chiropractic, ie Ahmad Entezami, 40, of Chatsworth, authorities said. The other suspects are Linda S. Gudz, 39, Gregory A. Ball, 43, Marc H.P. Nadreau, 45, Dr. Paul L. Guidry, 39, Dr. Adrienne T. Alston, Angel Ayala Rugamas, 37, and Anisur Rahman, 50, all of Los Angeles; Teresa Marie Garcia, 47, of San Gabriel; and Juan Reyes Marrufo, 35, Maricela Armenta, 34, and Cristina Rodriguez, 32, of Phoenix, Ariz. |
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