Man Arrested on Nine Counts of Insurance Fraud
An Anaheim man was arrested Monday on charges that he lied about injuries suffered in an automobile accident to collect an insurance payoff.
Santiago Arteaga Ramirez, 34, who remained in the Orange County Jail overnight, unable to post $15,000 bond, is expected to be arraigned today on nine counts of insurance fraud, a jail spokesman said. If convicted, Ramirez faces up to five years in state prison.
According to the California Department of Insurance, Ramirez claimed he injured his back and neck last year in a car accident and told doctors he had no previous history of such injuries. At the time, he was working at a landscaping company.
However, the state agency said, investigators learned that Ramirez had claimed to have suffered similar injuries in an auto accident and two work-related incidents in the early 1990s. Ramirez filed insurance claims in each of those cases, the insurance department said.
In a 1997 deposition, Ramirez said his injuries prevented him from raking, trimming trees and performing other tasks, according to the agency.
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