Bear costume used in elaborate car insurance fraud scheme
Operation Bear Claw reveals suspects allegedly wore bear costume to commit insurance fraud. Image via California Department of Insurance
(LOS ANGELES) — Four individuals were arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to defraud their insurance companies by claiming a bear had damaged their vehicles — when in fact it was a person in a bear costume attacking the cars.
The suspects were all Los Angeles-area residents, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon by the California Department of Insurance.
The suspects varying in age, were Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale; Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale; Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale; and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village.
The statement said that all four were charged with conspiracy and insurance fraud.
Suspects claimed on Jan. 28, 2024, that a bear entered their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost and caused interior damage, according to the Department of Insurance. They provided video footage of the incident, stating that it had occurred during their visit to Lake Arrowhead.
Upon reviewing the footage, the Department of Insurance said that it suspected fraud. Officials said that they believed right away that the bear in question was actually a person in a bear costume.
Initiating an investigation — named Operation Bear Claw — the department learned that two other claims had been filed to different insurance companies with similar details: the same location and the same date.
Similar to the claim that originally drew the unit’s attention, the two other reports stated that a bear had attacked their cars: a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, according to the statement.
Each of the two other claims had submitted video footage as part of their evidence. And in both of those videos, the department said it believed that they were looking at the same bear costume.
However, the department said that it sought an outside opinion on the case before making a final determination. Investigators reached out to a biologist from the California Department of Wildlife, who then independently reviewed the evidence for Operation Bear Claw.
The biologist stated that “it was clearly a human in a bear suit,” according to the statement.
Authorities were able to execute a search warrant for the people involved in the alleged insurance fraud scheme.
Officials confirm that a bear costume was found in one of the suspects’ homes.
At the time of the arrests, officials reported that the insurance companies had already paid out some of the claims, totaling $141,839.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
(NASSAU, Bahamas) Search efforts are underway for a 66-year-old woman who fell overboard on a Taylor Swift-themed cruise Tuesday night, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The missing passenger fell off the Royal Caribbean ship Allure of the Season about 17 miles north of Nassau, Bahamas, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard is assisting with the search, which is being led by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.
The four-night Swift-themed voyage, known as “In My Cruise Era,” set sail from Miami for the Bahamas on Monday. It was not officially affiliated with Swift.
About 400 people registered for the cruise, which was scheduled to include karaoke, a dance party and friendship bracelet trading.
In a statement from the cruise company, Royal Caribbean said it initiated search efforts as soon as the woman fell overboard.
“Our crew immediately launched a search and rescue effort and is working with local authorities We are also providing support and assistance to the guest’s family during this difficult time. To respect the privacy of our guest’s family, we have no additional details to share,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Two people were killed and four remain in the hospital from an explosion at a manufacturing facility in Louisville, Kentucky, officials said.
The “hazardous materials incident” was reported Tuesday afternoon at a Givaudan Sense Colour facility, a natural food coloring plant, according to the Louisville Metro Emergency Services.
First responders were initially told by the business that all employees were accounted for, officials said Wednesday. But then a second victim was found buried in rubble late Tuesday evening after crews went back to the scene upon guidance from the business that someone was likely still there. It took three-and-a-half hours to remove that victim from the rubble, officials said.
“We are deeply saddened to share the news that two of our team members lost their lives in this accident,” Givaudan Sense Colour said in a statement.
The University of Louisville Hospital said it received seven patients with injuries including burn and blast wounds. All those injured are employees of the plant, officials said.
Four people remain hospitalized on Wednesday, all in stable condition, officials said.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, officials said.
Drone footage taken by Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS showed extensive damage to the facility.
Residents within two blocks of the facility were evacuated, officials said. A shelter-in-place order was also issued for those within a 1-mile radius of the facility but it has since been lifted, officials said.
Air monitoring is clear at this time, officials said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly four years after he allegedly shot and killed an unarmed Black man who was dropping off Christmas money to a friend, the murder trial of former police officer Adam Coy was getting underway on Monday.
Coy, who is white, was fired from the Columbus Police Department about a week after the 2020 fatal shooting of 47-year-old Andre Hill.
About a month after the shooting, the 46-year-old Coy was arrested and indicted on charges of murder, reckless homicide, felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty. Coy has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has not made any public comments on the case.
If convicted, Coy, who is free on $1 million bail, could face a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus with the start of jury selection.
Opening statements in the long-awaited trial, which was postponed indefinitely in April 2023 after Coy was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment, could get underway as early as Tuesday.
The shooting unfolded around 2 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, when Coy and another officer, Amy Detweiler, were called to a home in the Northwest Side neighborhood of Columbus to investigate a nonemergency noise complaint from a neighbor reporting a man sitting for a prolonged amount of time in an SUV outside the residence with the engine running, according to police officials and prosecutors.
Coy allegedly drew his gun and shined a flashlight into the open garage as Hill emerged from the garage holding a cellphone, according to police body camera footage released by the Columbus Police Department.
An autopsy determined that Hill was shot four times, suffering wounds to his chest and legs.
Neither Coy nor Detweiler turned their body-worn cameras on until after the shooting, but Coy’s camera had a “look-back” function that automatically activated and recorded 60 seconds of the episode without sound, including capturing the shooting.
The body camera footage also showed that as Hill lay dying on the floor of the garage, none of the officers who responded to the incident immediately provided first aid.
National civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump, who is representing Hill’s family, alleged that the officers waited up to 15 minutes before before they started giving Hill first aid.
After officers on the scene turned their body cameras on, a woman came out of the house and told officers that Hill was a guest.
“He was bringing me Christmas money. He didn’t do anything,” she was heard telling the officers, who ordered her back inside.
Officer Detweiler, who is expected to testify in Coy’s trial, told investigators that before the shooting she and Coy were standing outside the house attempting to determine why Hill was at the location, according to records in the case released to the public on Dec. 29, 2020. Detweiler told investigators, according to the records, that she and Coy had their weapons drawn when Hill emerged from the garage, but that Hill did not appear to pose any threat before he was shot.
“Officer Detweiler stated Mr. Hill was walking towards her with a cell phone raised in his left hand,” according to the investigation records. “Officer Detweiler stated she did not observe any threats from Mr. Hill.”
Detweiler told investigators that Hill didn’t say a word as he approached her and Coy. She told investigators that Coy suddenly yelled out, “There’s a gun in his other hands, there’s a gun in his other hand” before opening fire, according to investigators.
Detweiler said she did not see a weapon in Hill’s hands and no firearms were found in Hill’s possession after the shooting, according to records.
Coy told investigators he thought he saw a firearm on Hill before shooting the man, officials said.
As protesters took to the streets of Columbus in the days following the shooting demanding Coy be fired and charged with murder, Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. announced he had terminated Coy, a 19-year veteran of the police force, writing in his ruling that “known facts do not establish that this use of deadly force was objectively reasonable.”
Pettus found that Coy didn’t try to deescalate the situation before shooting Hill. After the shooting, Coy didn’t render aid or ensure that others did, according to Pettus.
The dereliction of duty charges Coy is facing at trial stems from him not turning on his body camera before the shooting and not warning Detweiler of the potential danger he believed Hill posed, prosecutors said.
After Coy was indicted, his attorney, Mark Collins, told ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX-TV that the charges against Coy, particularly the murder charge, did not make sense, saying it suggests his client knowingly intended to kill Hill.
“The knowing element, to cause serious physical harm with a deadly weapon, and someone died, that’s the concept, however, police officers are trained a certain way to take an action and to stop a threat,” Collins said at the time. “So that kind of doesn’t make sense.”
In May 2021, the City of Columbus agreed to a $10 million wrongful death settlement with Hill’s family, the highest amount ever paid by the city.
The indictment of Coy came just days after the Columbus City Council also passed Andre’s Law, which was named after Hill and requires Columbus police officers to turn on their body cameras when responding to calls and to immediately render first aid after a use-of-force incident.
