D.A. Accuses Six of Staging Collision, Filing False Claims

The Orange County district attorney’s office accused six people Wednesday of staging an automobile accident, creating fake medical records and filing false insurance claims seeking $50,000.

The felony charges of fraud and grand theft come nearly two years after the district attorney’s office opened an undercover investigation into a suspected staged-accident ring.

According to the office, an undercover investigator was hired by the defendants for $2,000 to pose as a driver in a phony wreck and claim he had rear-ended another suspect’s car.

Before going to the staged scene in Irvine, the defendants damaged the cars, according to a news release prepared by Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Lubinski.

Four of the defendants then drove to the scene in one car, with the investigator in the other. Once there, they called Irvine police and complained of sore backs and necks, Lubinski said.

In the following months, the four involved in the accident hired a personal injury attorney, went to a doctor and filed claims with an insurance company seeking about $50,000 in compensation.

Only one of the six defendants has been arrested, and there are warrants outstanding for the remaining five. The six are: Florita Ancheta Interior, 50, and Florante Gabino Interior, 44, both of Irvine; Gereroso Santos Cariaga Jr., 28, of Carson; Luisita Salcedo Catamisan, 30, of Gardena; Armando Salcedo Catamisan, 38, of Lawndale, and Mark Anthony Samson, 35, of Bellflower.

It was unclear Wednesday which of the six was already in custody, or which four are suspected of participating in the staged accident.

The maximum penalty for the charges is five years in state prison and a $50,000 fine, according to the district attorney’s office.