According to a release by the California Department of Insurance, the following five arrests were made in four separate insurance fraud cases in Orange County.

James Toufic Assali was arrested on three felony counts of insurance fraud, and one felony count of attempted grand theft. Assali allegedly filed an insurance claim for rental car payments he made to himself.

CDI Fraud Division Investigators found that Assali submitted a fraudulent rental car invoice to Fortis Rental Solutions, a company owned by Assali, for $5,235 in rental charges. When questioned, Assali said he never heard of the company and that his wife handled all of the rental car arrangements.

In another arrest, Julie Jo Lagos was charged with six counts of insurance fraud and one count of hit and run. Lagos was involved in a collision and was uninsured because her policy had been cancelled due to non-payment. Minutes after the collision, she attempted to purchase a policy over the phone, but did not disclose to the company that she had just been involved in an accident. In her report to the company, she misrepresented the time of the collision so she could claim it on her insurance. Lagos claimed she was not in the area at the time of the hit and run. However, witness statements and a check of her employment records indicated that she was in the area of the collision when it occurred.

Also in a hit and run case, Oscar Godinez was arrested and charged with four felony counts of insurance fraud, two misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting a crime, and one misdemeanor count of hit and run with property damage. Investigators say Godinez crashed his vehicle into a parked/unoccupied vehicle in the city of Santa Ana, and then fled the scene of the accident and returned to his home. Godinez then called the Santa Ana police department and his insurance company to report that his vehicle had been stolen from his home. During the CDI investigation, Godinez admitted that he was involved in the hit-and-run accident.

Lastly, in another auto related case, Barry and Cynthia Irvine were arrested on three felony counts of insurance fraud. According to investigators, Cynthia Irvine backed out of a parking space and struck another vehicle, causing property damage and alleged injuries to both occupants of the other vehicle. Barry Irvine called the other party and informed them that he and his wife were uninsured and asked them to report a loss date of June 14, 2006, which was the date their new policy would take effect. The other party had already reported the loss date as June 13, 2006, however.

Interested in more fraud news and in-depth articles? Head over to Claims' fraud channel for more information.

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