Three Southern California residents have been sentenced in a bizarre insurance fraud scheme which 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 on Jan. 28, 2024, 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 into the claim – dubbed “Operation Bear Claw” – took a closer look at the video and found the “bear” was actually a person in a bear costume, the insurance department said. Investigators then took the video to biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to also look at the video. The biologists said, “it was clearly a human in a bear suit.”
Four were arrested in connection with insurance fraud when they claimed a bear damaged their car, but it was a person in a bear costume, officials said
Investigators uncovered two other fraudulent claims submitted to different insurance companies regarding the same incident.
On Thursday, Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, were sentenced to 180 days in jail and ordered to pay restitution.
A fourth suspect, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, still has a pending case.
Officials say the total cost to the insurance companies was $141,839.