6 Charged in $600,000 Insurance Fraud

Six Southern California residents have been charged with fraud stemming from a $600,000 phony auto accident ring in which the defendants allegedly slammed a Porsche and other expensive cars into each other in order to simultaneously collect damages from various insurance companies, authorities announced Thursday.

“This was a very active, very lucrative ring,” said Ronald Warthen, chief investigator of the fraud bureau of the state Department of Insurance. “They were using fancy cars because the damage repair estimate on a fancy car is going to be more expensive.”

Arrested were Alexander Paul Alexander, 44, of Glendale; Gregory Phillip Meyer, 38, his wife Carol Ann, 37, and brother Gary, 45, all of Chino Hills; Bobby Gene Lemons, 41, of Fountain Valley, and Dale Foster, 53, of San Clemente. A seventh unidentified suspect remains at large, according to authorities.

Charges Filed

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged each defendant with three counts of grand theft, three counts of insurance fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and grand theft. Alexander, whom Warthen labeled “the driving force behind this particular fraud scheme,” is also charged with additional counts of fraud and theft, and of perjury in obtaining driver’s licenses.

The defendants allegedly bilked 20 insurance companies by filing false claims of 120 accidents over a four-year period in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernadino counties.

After slamming the cars into each other, they filed simultaneous claims averaging $5,000 per accident with several companies for the same body damage, officials charge. The cars included a Porsche 928, two Cadillacs, a Chevrolet Monte Carlo and a BMW.

To remain undetected, the suspects allegedly used more than 25 identities, falsified registration documents and vehicle identification numbers to obtain insurance policies, officials charge.

Warthen said the scheme began to unravel in January, when two insurance firms alerted authorities that false names and addresses had been used in connection with six accident claims. A search of Alexander’s home turned up 24 California driver’s licenses all bearing his photograph, but each with a different name.