Four arrested in California for using bear costume to fake break-ins on luxury cars

Four Los Angeles-area residents accused of using a bear costume and faking break-ins on their luxury cars to get insurance payouts were arrested Wednesday.

Ruben Tamrazian, 26; Ararat Chirkinian, 39; and Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, all of Glendale; along with Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, of Valley Village are charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy, the California Department of Insurance’s Fraud Division said in a release.

The four suspects filed an insurance claim that contended a bear had entered and damaged a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost in Lake Arrowhead on Jan. 28. The suspects submitted a video of the attack, but the unspecified insurance company suspected fraud.

The Department of Insurance detectives found two additional claims made to two other insurance companies for bear attacks at the same Lake Arrowhead location on the same date. 

One claim involved a 2015 Mercedes-AMG G63 and the other a 2022 Mercedes E350, and videos of the purported bear attacks on both cars were submitted as well, officials said. In total, the three insurance companies paid out $141,839.

A California Department of Fish and Wildlife expert brought in to review the footage concluded that the culprit in the car attacks was a person in a bear suit. 

Detectives found a bear suit after executing a search warrant at the suspects’ residence and allege that the four used the suit to stage the break-ins themselves. The Department of Insurance didn’t say which suspect wore the suit and damaged the cars.

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