Seven Sacramento area residents were arrested by authorities for allegedly torching vehicles in an effort to secure fraudulent insurance payouts.

The arrests were the results of two separate investigations by the California Department of Insurance (CDI). The first investigation led to the arrests of Helen Marler, 28, and her husband Jason Marler, 33, both of Plumas Lake, and Agustin Lara, 33, of Olivehurst, on April 16. The three were charged for allegedly conspiring to set fire to Mrs. Marler's 2006 Jeep Liberty on August 19, 2007. Marler and Lara admitted to investigators that they set fire to the vehicle so that Marler could avoid her $600 monthly car payments

During the course of the investigation into the destruction of Mrs. Marler's vehicle, investigators discovered that Jason Marler filed a separate insurance claim with Farmers Insurance Company for the couple's second vehicle less than three months after Mrs. Marler filed a claim for her car.

Mr. Marler claimed that on November 12, 2007, his vehicle, a 2005 Nissan Titan, incurred severe water damage in the Feather River while he was four-wheeling. As a result of the damages, Farmers Insurance paid $29,000 to Mr. Marler. CDI investigators later discovered that Marler allegedly damaged his vehicle in the river deliberately, in an effort to collect the $29,000 payout. Lara and Mr. and Mrs. Marler each face up to five years in state prison and thousands of dollars in fines.

The second investigation, unrelated to the Marler case, revealed that four young men purportedly torched a 2006 Dodge Magnum so they could collect a payout from their insurance company. On October 11, 2007, Anthony Woodcock Jr., 19; sought the help of Frank Avery, 22; Kyle Cooper, 19; and Jarred Flory, 20, all of Rancho Cordova, to carry out a scheme to defraud his insurance company. Woodcock filed an insurance claim with Anchor General Insurance Company for his incinerated vehicle, and received $29,000 for the damages incurred. During the course of the investigation into the claim, all four men confessed to playing a role in the destruction of the vehicle. Each could face up to five years in state prison and thousands of dollars in fines.

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