Four people in Southern California have been charged with insurance fraud after claiming their cars were trashed by a bear — which was actually someone in a bear costume, officials said Wednesday.
The so-called “bear” was claimed to have entered and damaged a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost on Jan. 8 while it was parked at Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, the California Department of Insurance said.
Video was submitted to the insurance company that alleged to show the animal entering the car.
“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” the Department of Insurance said in a statement.The group also submitted claims for damage to two other cars, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350, again with video, and again with someone in a bear suit, it said.
Charged are Ruben Tamrazian, 26; Ararat Chirkinian, 39; and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32; all of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village. They are charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy, the department said.
The scam cost insurance companies $141,839, the department said.
The bear costume, with brown fur, a head shaped like a bear’s, paws and metal hand tools to simulate claw marks, was found in the suspects’ home, officials said.
Video of the alleged damage showed what appeared to be minor groove marks on seats and the interior that were intended to pass for claw marks.
Investigators also showed the videos to a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who “opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit,” the Department of Insurance said.
Criminal cases for the four people charged did not appear in online court searches in San Bernardino County on Wednesday night, and it was not clear if any of the four had attorneys who could speak on their behalf. Phone numbers for them could not be found.
There are bears at Lake Arrowhead and in the San Bernardino Mountains, which is a forested range about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles, but they don’t wear costumes.
The only wild bears in the San Bernardino Mountains or anywhere else in the state are black bears, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Contrary to the name, those bears can sometimes be brown.
The state once had grizzlies, but they have been hunted to extinction by the 1920s.