Fraud of the Week

April 9, 2018

Arson — California

Amount: $600,000

A man from Winnetka who owned a dental office building that was destroyed by a fire in 2014 has pleaded not guilty to a string of insurance fraud charges, plus grand theft. He was arrested at his arraignment and held for $600,000 bail, the amount of money he had been paid out in a series of suspicious claims on the dental practice. The police noted several red flags in claims associated with the dental office; claims of break-ins, water damage, burglary, and ultimately of a fire which broke out in March 2014 and destroyed the building. One particularly suspicious claim involved a break in while the practice was closed. Several items were stolen, including thirty-one boxes of patient records and $15,000 of artwork, but there was no sign of forced entry. An ex-employee informed investigators that the building was equipped with an alarm system and security cameras, and that the locks had been changed mere months before that incident. One of the other two men arrested in connection with the dental office fire has previously been arrested in connection with a fire.