LOS ANGELES, CA — Three people have landed in a hairy situation after they were accused of being a part of scheme involving a person wearing a bear costume as they committed grizzly attacks on luxury vehicles in Southern California — while caught on video.
Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, were sentenced to 180 days in jail on Thursday after all three defendants pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud. They were also ordered to pay restitution.
An insurance company flagged a claim from an incident in 2024 reporting that a bear entered a 2010 Rolls Royce and damaged the interior, according to the California Department of Insurance.
Detectives reviewed the video and determined the "bear" was actually a human wearing a bear costume.
Investigators also later found two more fraudulent claims submitted to separate insurance companies involving the same date and location, and a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350.
In addition, a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the video and concluded the "bear" was "clearly a human in a bear suit," officials said.
Detectives later executed a search warrant and recovered the costume from the suspects' home.
Officials said the total loss to the insurance companies was $141,839.
"What may have looked unbelievable turned out to be exactly that," Ricardo Lara, commissioner of California's Department of Insurance, said in a news release.
"My Department's investigators uncovered the facts, exposed this scam, and helped bring these defendants to justice. Insurance fraud is a serious crime that drives up costs for consumers, and no scheme is too outrageous for us to investigate," he added.
Ararat Chirkinian, a fourth person accused of being involved, will have a preliminary hearing in September.
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