YouTube Turns Siblings Into Suspects in Alleged Fraud
Saturday, Mar 13, 2010 | Updated 10:15 AM PDT
YouTube
A Diamond Bar man and his sister received a crash course in insurance fraud.
A Diamond Bar man and his sister received a crash course in insurance fraud when they were arrested because a YouTube video shows his car -- which they claim crashed on a Southland freeway -- flying off a mountain road during a race, it was reported Friday.
Investigators said Jay Chen, 21, and Tracy Chen, 29, initially gave conflicting reports about what caused $76,000 in damage to Jay's 2009 Nissan GT-R supercar, drawing their suspicion, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.
According to investigators, Jay Chen first reported to his insurance company that his sister crashed the car on the San Bernardino (10) Freeway on March 16, 2009, and Tracy Chen corroborated the story, according to the newspaper.
He withdrew the claim and said he was would pay for the repairs himself, according to the report.
About three months later, Jay Chen allegedly filed a new insurance claim, this time saying he crashed on the 60 Freeway in Riverside. That claim was fraudulent because investigators found that the car had sat immobile in a body shop since March, Jason Kimbrough, a spokesman for the Insurance Commissioner, told the Tribune.
An insurance company investigator followed a hunch and searched the Internet for videos of the crash, and up came a YouTube clip that appears to show the car crashing during a race up Glendora Mountain Road, according to the newspaper.
Investigators said the car has the same damage as the car on the YouTube video. "The YouTube video was the key to building the case," Kimbrough told the website.
Court records indicate that San Bernardino County prosecutors charged Jay Chen with six counts of felony insurance fraud, and Tracy Chen with one. Warrants were issued for their arrests last month, and both were booked and released March 5.
Both could be fined and imprisoned if convicted.
