‘Least Cost’ Equals Least Coverage
A joint investigation conducted by the CDI Criminal Investigations Branch’s Investigations Bureau and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office led to the arrest of two insurance agents, Manuel Mendez, 35, and Jeffrey Ferguson, 36. According to CDI investigators, Mendez and Ferguson allegedly sold more than 600 fraudulent insurance policies to unsuspecting consumers, primarily in the Hispanic community. Search warrants were served at several locations in the West Covina and Bakersfield areas in conjunction with the investigation.
Mendez, 35, and Ferguson, 36, were arrested and booked on 25 felony counts of conspiracy, insurance fraud and grand theft. Bail was set at $500,000 each. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. Mendez and Ferguson originally worked as partners at Least Cost Insurance Services in Anaheim. They later relocated their business to Covina, where it is alleged they continued in the sale of bogus policies.
Investigators documented that Mendez and Ferguson had collected at least $23,000 in premiums from 45 victims but never submitted the premiums to carriers.
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