A January 16 trial date was set for seven Redwood City defendants charged with their involvement in an insurance fraud ring amounting to at least $36,000 in false auto accident claims. The alleged fraud included two Redwood City auto body shops, a Farmer's Insurance claims adjuster, and a number of individuals who staged auto accidents and stolen vehicles in order to claim insurance costs - all of the individuals involved were friends or relatives of one another. All their charges include conspiracy to commit crime, presenting false or fraudulent claim for payment, injury and destruction of insured property, attempted grand theft, and overt activity. The fraudulent claims began in 1996 when David Polido reported to his insurer, Farmer's Insurance, that his 1995 Toyota Pick-up truck was damaged after he swerved to avoid hitting an on-coming car and crashed into a parked BMW. He did not call the police, nor were there any witnesses to the collision. Polido denied knowing the owner of the BMW and had his pick-up towed and repaired at Rosas Auto Body and Tow in Redwood City. Polido collected $8795 in repairs from Farmer's for the pick-up.
Farmer's Insurance adjuster Craig Schram was involved in the claim.
Soon after, Kimi Rosas, using the name Kimi Durham, stepped forward to Farmer's Insurance and requested payment for the damage to her BMW - at the time Rosas was the wife of Leandro Rosas, owner of Rosas Auto Body. Farmers denied payment and she instead made $4174 worth of damages from her insurer, State Farm.
Investigators later found out that Polido was a friend of Leandro Rosas.
A number of other accidents involved similar scenarios - drivers swerved to avoid hitting something in the middle of the road and instead hit parked vehicles, all of which belonged to the Rosas family, who also towed and made the repairs to the vehicles involved.
Ignacio Hernandez, godfather of the Rosas' daughter, was involved in two separate incidents where he claimed insurance money. In 1996 he registered his 1989 Mercury station wagon in the name of his brother-in-law Rafael Mendez - a year later Mendez reported to Farmer's Insurance that he swerved to hit a parked car and instead hit a tow truck belonging to Rosas Auto Body. The station wagon was allegedly so badly damaged that Mendez claimed $1879 in salvage value.
Recommended for you
In early 1999, Hernandez reported his Landcruiser stolen from his garage, and within 40 minutes was recovered as a private property tow at Rosas Auto Body - Hernandez claimed $17000 for vandalism repairs from California State Automobile Insurance. The Redwood City Police Department inspected the vehicle and could not find damage beyond paint scratches.
Defense Attorney Steve Shaiman, said that the Landcruiser was badly damaged and needed thousands of dollars in repairs, which were never made.
Josefina Rosas, sister to Leandro Rosas, and owner of another auto body shop, Christian Auto Body, repaired an additional vehicle from David Polido in 1996, which was allegedly vandalized. Susan Hernandez, wife of Ignacio Hernandez, also collected $5467 in repairs for an accident with her 1988 VW Cabriolet and Kimi Rosas's 1994 BMW.
Leandro Rosas and ex-spouse Kimi Rosas owned Rosas Auto Body Shop and Tow in Redwood City.
Farmer's Insurance Adjuster Craig Schram and his wife Rachel Schram pled guilty last year to charges of conspiracy to commit crime and presenting a false or fraudulent claim for payment - they have not yet been sentenced.
An additional defendants, Luis Chicas, is appearing on a separate case because he was arrested this past summer - a year later than the other nine defendants - because investigators could not locate him. Seven defendants will appear in court in January, including Leandro Rosas, Kimi Rosas, Josefina Rosas, Ignacio Hernandez, Susan Hernandez, David Polido, and Rafael Mendez. They all face felony charges - Prosecuting Attorney Joanne Mahoney could not say the maximum number of years they would face if convicted of all charges.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.