Two Men Plead Guilty to Fraud Charges

Two San Fernando Valley, Calif. residents, Timothy Caffery, 24, and Jose David Duarte, 22, pled guilty to insurance fraud charges as a result of a four-month investigation by the CDI Urban Auto Fraud Task Force.

The two men pled no contest to conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and to one count of auto insurance fraud.

Caffery was fined $200 and will serve three years in state prison. He was arrested on two counts of insurance fraud with Special Allegations and pled no contest to one count of insurance fraud and one count of special allegation.

Duarte pled no contest to one count of insurance fraud, was fined $200, and was sentenced to serve time in prison as a result of a plea agreement with the LA County District Attorney’s Office on Nov. 18, 2002. He had been arrested on two counts of insurance fraud in October. He also agreed to testify against another man involved in the insurance fraud conspiracy, a chiropractor that had already been arrested and charged.

Investigators allege that Caffery was the driver in a staged traffic collision on Oct. 26, 1999. Caffery, along with other passengers in the car, allegedly conspired to file a false claim against 21st Century Insurance. CDI investigators believe that Caffery rented a Hertz vehicle and purchased the additional Personal Accident Insurance in order to file a claim against 21st Century for additional medical payment. Moises Mendez, 31, of Los Angeles, was the insured driver of the vehicle and was charged with two counts of insurance fraud. He is still at large, while other arrests are being anticipated in the case.