LOS ANGELES — Four Los Angeles-area residents were arrested Nov. 13 for allegedly submitting bogus insurance claims contending that three high-end vehicles were damaged by a bear, which investigators say turned out to be a person wearing a bear suit.
According to the state agency, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale; Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale; Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale; and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village, are all facing charges of insurance fraud and conspiracy.
According to the DOI, the suspects allegedly told an insurance company that a bear climbed inside their 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost in Lake Arrowhead in January and damaged the interior. They provided video footage to the insurer to support the claim.
“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” the agency stated.
Investigators then determined the same suspects had submitted similar insurance claims of damage to two other vehicles at the same location on the same date — a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350 — and they also provided video in those claims.
“To further ensure it was not actually a bear in the video, the department had a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review the three alleged bear videos and they also opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit,” according to the Department of Insurance. “After executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear costume in the suspects’ home.”
The alleged fraud led to a loss of $141,839 by the insurance companies, according to the DOI.
The case is being prosecuted by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
