CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Man Pleads Guilty in Insurance Fraud

A Fremont man pleaded guilty in federal court here to staging accidents to defraud insurance companies, including pushing a Mercedes over a 50-foot cliff and feigning injuries while rescue workers “saved” him. Ricardo Scarano, 35, and six others were charged with involvement in a variety of frauds, including fake accidents, burglary and arson. Scarano and his cohorts collected $225,000 from State Farm Insurance for the April, 1985, scam involving the 1980 Mercedes, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Ross Nadel. Scarano and others pushed the car over a cliff near Castro Valley then feigned injury, Nadel said.