LOS ANGELES — 32-year-old Jason Kwon of Santa Fe Springs and 32-year-old David Chang of Burbank are in hot water. The two face 41 felony counts of insurance fraud, grand theft, and identity theft for allegedly having submitted a total of $1.3 million in fraudulent claims. Their goal? To obtain replacement cell phones on the cheap and turn them for profit.
Kwon, owner of Talk Talk Wireless, and Chang, owner of Hello Mobile, were investigated by the Department of Insurance and found to have conspired to submit more than 1000 false claims for lost and stolen phones using mobile account information they’d collected from unsuspecting customers.
Chang was arrested on May 14th by the Los Angeles Airport Police and Kwon turned himself in on May 19th. Both await trial on $1.57 million bail (each).
Elsewhere in Los Angeles, Tony Bimbo, a.k.a. Anthony Riste (45) and Brandy Riste (22), both local, were arrested on two felony counts of insurance fraud after allegedly conspiring with Bobby Vlado (40) to defraud an insurance company out of nearly $18,000.
In October of 2013, Vlado had reported to his insurer that he’d accidentally struck a pedestrian (Brandy Riste) at a busy Los Angeles intersection. Riste visited the ER twice and incurred more than $11,000 in medical bills, to which her father (Tony Bimbo) negotiated a claim on her behalf for an $18,000 settlement.
Evidence later uncovered by detectives revealed that the medical bills were never paid and that all three involved had been in constant communication with one another before and after the accident, despite claiming they’d never met.
Bimbo and Riste were booked, but both posted bail and await their trial on June 1. Bobby Vlado is currently at large. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is encouraged to contact Detective Dan Shoham at (661) 253 – 7405.
In San Diego, 36-year-old Richard Peters of Lakeside pleaded guilty to a single felony count of insurance fraud after having been arrested on suspicion that he torched his own vehicle for the insurance payout.
In October 2013, not long after financing a Ford Fusion for $32,000, Peters reported his car stolen. The car was found later that night by San Diego PD, burning in San Ysidro near the Mexico border.
Although Peters claimed to have an alibi, evidence uncovered that it was mere bologna. Peters was shortly thereafter booked into San Diego Central Jail and is to remain in custody until his court date on June 11.
The story above, and the information within, is based on the official press release by the California Department of Insurance.
