Grand Jury Indicts Pair Over Insurance Fraud

Two Oxnard men were arrested Friday on charges of insurance fraud as a result of the first indictment by the Ventura County Grand Jury since the passage of Proposition 115 empowered it to review criminal matters.

The grand jury returned the indictment on Wednesday, accusing William G. Taylor, 46, and Anthony V. Villa, 21, of conspiring to sell Taylor’s Ford Bronco and report it stolen to collect the insurance money.

Both men were ordered held Friday in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail on charges of conspiracy to commit auto insurance fraud, conspiracy to cheat and defraud an insurance company, presenting a false and fraudulent claim for payment under an insurance policy and subscribing a written document in support of a false and fraudulent claim of insurance.

If convicted, they each could be sentenced to up to six years in state prison.

Bennett said Villa and another unidentified person sold the Bronco in August to undercover Oxnard police officers, who were operating a sting operation by posing as fences of stolen goods, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Bennett said.

Taylor then told police and State Farm Insurance Co. that the Bronco had been stolen and attempted to collect the insurance money, Bennett said.

However, the undercover officers returned the Bronco to Taylor, and the insurance company paid him only the cost of unspecified damage that the vehicle suffered while it was allegedly stolen--more than $1,000, Bennett said.

Taylor and Villa are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Ventura County Superior Court.

Bennett said it is estimated that 25% to 50% of all automobile insurance claims made in California are fraudulent.

“And it costs the insurance companies and ultimately the taxpayers millions of dollars every year,” he said.

Before passage of Prop. 115, the district attorney’s office could only prosecute by filing complaints that were then subject to review in preliminary hearings. The advantage to the grand jury reviewing criminal matters is that the indictment process requires less time and money than did bringing defendants to trial during preliminary hearings, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee said.

The district attorney’s office plans to take more major cases to the grand jury to save time and money, McGee said.