Two Santa Cruz Suspects Arrested for Filing False Auto Insurance Claim

May 14, 2010

Two Santa Cruz, Calif., suspects have been arrested for allegedly presenting a false insurance claim, making false statements in support of an insurance claim, and conspiracy, the California Department of Insurance reported. Carrie Berlogar, 31, self-surrendered on May 7, and Dan Bahcall, 38, self-surrendered on May 12. Both were booked into the Santa Cruz County jail. Bail was set at $10,000.

An investigation conducted by the California Department of Insurance resulted in the arrest of Berlogar and Bahcall on charges related to automobile insurance fraud. Esurance Property and Casualty Insurance Co. reported this matter to the CDI in July 2009.

According to investigators, on June 18, 2009, Berlogar was backing out of her driveway in her 2001 Ford F150 when she collided into Bahcall’s parked Toyota Camry at approximately 3 p.m. Bahcall arrived at the scene and discovered the damage to his vehicle at approximately 5 p.m. Berlogar allegedly told Bahcall that she collided with his vehicle and did not have insurance, but was working on purchasing it.

Berlogar allegedly returned home and purchased an insurance policy online through Esurance at approximately 5:51 p.m. Berlogar and Bahcall purportedly agreed to report that the accident occurred after she purchased the insurance policy to obtain coverage for the damage to Bahcall’s vehicle.

On June 19, 2009, Berlogar called Esurance and filed an insurance claim. Berlogar allegedly told Esurance that she backed into Bahcall’s vehicle on June 18 at approximately 10:30 p.m. Bahcall also called Esurance and reported that he discovered the damage to his vehicle between 10 and 11 p.m.

Esurance became suspicious when they reviewed the claim and noticed the date and time of Berlogar’s accident happened within hours of when she purchased the policy. Esurance referred the suspected fraud to CDI, which launched an investigation.

CDI investigators allege that Berlogar did not have insurance at the time of the accident. The potential loss for Esurance was $1,289.

The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting this case.

Source: CDI

Was this article valuable?

Here are more articles you may enjoy.