Four individuals in Los Angeles were arrested on Wednesday and charged with insurance fraud after claiming that a bear had damaged their cars, when the bear in question was actually just a person dressed in a bear costume.
The California department of insurance said that the suspects filed a claim in January of this year, stating that a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost while it was parked at Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino mountains and caused interior damage to the vehicle.
The suspects submitted a video to the insurance company, which showed the alleged âbearâ inside the vehicle.
However, upon further scrutiny of the footage, âthe investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costumeâ, the insurance department said in a statement.
Detectives also said that they discovered two additional insurance claims submitted to two more insurance companies, involving the same individuals, with identical dates of loss and location, but two different vehicles.
Those claims also included videos showing a âbearâ damaging the cars.
To further verify that the figure in the videos was not a real bear, the insurance department said it took the footage to biologists with the California department of fish and wildlife to review. That agency also concluded that it was clearly a human wearing a bear suit, authorities said.
Detectives then discovered the bear costume in the suspectsâ home after executing a search warrant.
The four suspects were identified as Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39. They have all been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy.
The insurance companies were defrauded of $141,839, authorities say.
The California insurance department detectives were assisted by the Glendale police department and the California highway patrol in the investigation.
The San Bernardino county district attorneyâs office is prosecuting this case.
