The Daily Populous Monday April 27th, 2026 night edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by gamersecret2

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three people in California have been sentenced for insurance fraud in a bizarre scam that involved someone dressed in a bear costume damaging luxury cars.

The California Insurance Department said the three used a person in a bear suit to stage fake attacks inside a Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes in 2024, then submitted fraudulent claims seeking nearly $142,000 in payouts from insurance companies. The department called it “Operation Bear Claw.”

Two Los Angeles-area men and a woman pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud and were sentenced to a weekend jail program, followed by probation, the department said in a news release Thursday. Two of them were ordered to pay over $50,000 in restitution.

A fourth person faces a court hearing in September.

The group is accused of providing several videos from the San Bernardino Mountains of a bear moving inside the vehicles 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.

A California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist reviewed the footage and 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.

Oxjrnine on April 27th, 2026 at 00:04 UTC »

How did the scam work? Did they fake the damage as well or were they not planning on repairing the cars and the insurance was a higher value than selling?

borkborkbork99 on April 26th, 2026 at 19:44 UTC »

That title is a wild ride.

newswall-org on April 26th, 2026 at 19:18 UTC »

More on this subject from other reputable sources:

BBC Online (A): Three sentenced for 'man in bear suit' insurance scam Global News (B+): Trio sentenced over ‘bear costume’ insurance fraud scam in California Los Angeles Times (B+): They dressed like a bear and damaged a Rolls-Royce in an audacious insurance scheme Daily Breeze (A-): Bear costume scam involving damaged luxury cars in San Bernardino Mountains earns insurance fraud sentences

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