By Clara Harter
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — The footage is shocking. A brown bear — and there hasn’t been one of those in Southern California for more than a century — breaks into a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost, seemingly using the door handle. Then it lumbers around inside the car, raking the leather seats with its mighty claws.
Except it wasn’t a terrifying beast — it was a person in a bear costume using a kitchen tool designed to shred meat, authorities said.
And the video was no lucky capture, but a staged performance submitted as part of a four-person insurance fraud scheme, according to the California Department of Insurance.
On Wednesday, Ruben Tamrazian, 26, of Glendale, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, of Glendale, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, of Glendale, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village were arrested and charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy, according to the California Department of Insurance.
The suspects are also accused of staging fake-bear videos with two Mercedes-Benz vehicles — a 2015 G63 AMG and a 2022 E350 — and submitting these videos as part of fraudulent insurance claims, the department says.
A bear costume with meat claws was discovered in the suspects’ home on Wednesday, according to the insurance department.
The Department of Insurance’s Fraud Division began its investigation — dubbed Operation Bear Claw — after an insurance company examined the recording of the Jan. 28 Rolls Royce incident and became suspicious that there was something fishy going on.
Upon closer scrutiny, the ferocious animal appeared to be a person in a costume, detectives said.
Detectives then discovered the two additional insurance claims filed for the two Mercedes vehicles. All three insurance claims were filed with different companies and had the same date of loss and the same location, detectives said.
They decided to tap an expert — just to be sure, mind you.
Detectives enlisted the help of a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to review the three videos who agreed that it was clearly a human in a bear suit.
The suspects are accused of defrauding insurance companies of almost $142,000.
On Wednesday, detectives executed a search and arrest warrant and discovered the costume and claws. The Glendale Police Department and the California Highway Patrol assisted in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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