Fraud Ring Leads to Three Arrests

Three individuals were arrested after allegedly taking part in a large-scale auto fraud ring that involved lawyers, chiropractors and doctors from California. Juan Reyes Marrufo, 35, Maricela Armenta, 34, and Cristina Rodriguez, 32 were apprehended by the Arizona Department of Insurance Fraud Unit who was assisted by the Phoenix Police Department’s Fugitive Apprehension and Investigations Detail.

The investigation found that the ring was an organized system whereby individuals were being “recruited” in Phoenix to use their vehicles in collisions in California. The Arizona and California accident “victims” then allegedly claimed to have received legal and medical services from the other ring participants who contributed to the false filing of claims under Arizona insurance policies.

The recruits were flown to California where they then purposefully crashed their vehicles into other pre-arranged vehicles, usually rentals that had multiple passengers. Passengers from both vehicles would then reportedly file claims under the Arizona policy because the Phoenix driver was “at fault”. Accidents often occurred late at night allegedly to reduce the availability of witnesses. Claim amounts would be inflated by the addition of medical expenses presented by various chiropractors and doctors who falsely claimed to have treated the accident “victims” for the collision-related injuries.

The Arizona Fraud Unit (AFU) began collaborating with the California Department of Insurance Fraud Division after the AFU became aware of this activity when an insurer referred suspicious claims from California medical professionals.
The CDI has made arrests of ring participants in California. If convicted, participants in this ring face a maximum of 24.5 years in prison as well as restitution for their crimes of insurance fraud, theft, forgery, and fraudulent schemes.