December 19, 2002
By J. Harry Jones
Staff Writer
One of the biggest local insurance fraud rings of its
kind used phony police reports to substantiate
payments of more than
$700,000 for two traffic deaths that never occurred, San Diego prosecutors
said yesterday.
An Allstate insurance claims adjuster, two other men and
a woman were being sought by police last
night on $1 million arrest
warrants, according to court documents.
The scam was so complex that fictional children were
created and the lives of real and imaginary
people were intertwined,
according to the charges. Falsified police reports bear the names of real
deputy sheriffs who never responded to such accidents. Real doctors are
discussed in reports as
having treated the children. Witnesses who never
existed confirmed the facts of the accidents.
Prosecutors say the checks sent to two supposedly
bereaved parents are among the biggest such
payouts ever investigated by the
District Attorney's insurance fraud division. Both were approved by
Allstate
claims adjuster Gaylan Sweet, one of those charged in the case, according to
authorities.
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