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In what it has dubbed “Operation Bear Claw,” the California
Insurance Department said four Los Angeles residents were
arrested Wednesday, accused of defrauding three insurance
companies out of nearly $142,000 by claiming a bear had caused
damage to their vehicles.
The group is accused of providing video footage from the San
Bernardino Mountains in January of a bear moving inside a
Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes to the insurance companies as part
of their damage claims, the department said. Photos provided by
the insurance department show what appeared to be scratches on
the seats and doors.
The company viewing video of the Rolls-Royce suspected it was
not a bear inside, but someone in a bear costume.
Detectives found two additional claims and with two different
insurance companies for the four with the same date of loss and
at the same location. Similar video was provided of the “bear”
inside the Mercedes vehicles.
It was not immediately known if the four people arrested had
attorneys.
The department had a biologist from the California Department of
Fish and Wildlife review the three videos, who concluded it was
“clearly a human in a bear suit,” the insurance department said.
After executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear
costume in the suspects’ home, the department said.
Bears breaking into homes or trash cans in search of food have
become a problem in California from Lake Tahoe in the Sierra
down to the foothill suburbs of Los Angeles, where some have
been known to raid refrigerators and take dips in backyard pools
and hot tubs.
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