BODY SHOP OWNER JAILED IN INSURANCE SCAM STING.

Byline: - Ryan Oliver

A San Fernando Valley auto body shop owner was arrested Thursday in a sting operation that targeted a dozen shops suspected of bilking insurance companies.

Los Angeles Police Department officials said the scams are connected to the growing street racing culture, in which car owners are filing false paint damage claims with their auto insurance companies in order to obtain free, custom paint jobs.

``In many cases, it's a conspiracy act between the individual policy holders and the auto body shop owners,'' said Los Angeles police Cmdr. Michel Moore, second in command of the Valley Bureau. ``There are hundreds of repair shops in the Valley and they should know we're going to go after them.

``This is an ongoing investigation, this is the beginning point - not the end,'' Moore said at a news conference announcing the arrest.

Larry Hernandez, owner of Larry's Auto Body Shop in San Fernando, was arrested on suspicion of insurance fraud and later released on $30,000 bond.

Detective Robert Graybill, head of the Valley Bureau's Auto Theft Task Force, said of the dozen auto shops targeted, 11 of them conspired to defraud the insurance companies with an undercover LAPD officer posing as a car owner wanting a new paint job.

Hernandez's case was the only one that offered enough evidence to make an immediate arrest, police said. Another half-dozen are being reviewed by the District Attorney's Office, and the rest will likely not stand up in court, Graybill said.

The shops were targeted because of data provided by insurance companies indicating a suspicious pattern of billing.

Hernandez was arrested after he allegedly attempted to bill an insurance company $2,800 for a paint job on an undamaged Mitsubishi Eclipse.