An Oakland man was arrested Thursday in San Mateo for filing false claims with the San Mateo County Sheriff's office. Frank Roy Rice Jr., 32, claimed he was admitted to county jail while wearing a Franck Muller Tourbillion watch, worth $73,100. Rice filed the same claim with the Berkeley Police Department and the Alameda County Sheriff's offices.
Rice's claim was originally handled as a loss investigation, according to San Mateo Sheriff Department Detective, Greg Eatmon. However, Eatmon said Rice presented conflicting statements to different investigators. "At first he said he had a receipt but it was consumed in a fire. Then he said he had a receipt, then he said he had three receipts," Eatmon said. Investigators later discovered that the receipts were falsified.
Rice was originally arrested in San Mateo in '97 for petty theft. While he was on probation he was arrested by the Berkeley Police Department in '99 for possession of cocaine for sale. After serving his sentence in Berkeley, Rice was brought to San Mateo County and was sent to state prison for 16 months.
Investigators had been working on the case since August and a warrant was issued for Rice's arrest on Thursday. Upon Rice's arrest, he confessed his claims were fraudulent. According to Eatmon, Rice said he submitted the claims to support his family. In a written statement, Rice said he thought of the plan while in state prison and that the scheme came to him after seeing an advertisement for the Franck Muller watch in the magazine, "Billionaire."
When Eatmon asked Rice why he made such a large claim, he allegedly said : "I believe in doing things in a big way, I don't go light." Eatmon also asked Rice if he thought what he did was wrong, and Rice responded : "I'm cold busted."
Eatmon said the team of investigators did an exhaustive investigation. They contacted the Franck Muller watch company in New York to obtain detailed information about the watch, which they then questioned Rice about. Investigators also visited the store where Rice allegedly purchased the watch and found the most expensive watch in the store was $60. "We conducted 22 interviews, [the investigation] required a great deal of expenditure," Eatmon said. "We left no stone unturned."
Rice is currently being held in the San Mateo County jail on charges of felony fraud, perjury, and presenting false documents on $250,000 bail.
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