Insurers say bear that damaged luxury cars was actually a person in a costume

By The Associated Press

This photo provided by the California Department of Insurance shows a bear costume allegedly worn by suspects with the aim to commit insurance fraud. (California Department of Insurance via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California has seen its share of bears breaking into cars. But bears caught on camera entering luxury cars tipped off insurers that something wasn’t quite right.

In what it has dubbed “Operation Bear Claw,” the California Insurance Department said four Los Angeles residents were arrested Wednesday, accused of defrauding three insurance companies out of nearly $142,000 by claiming a bear had caused damage to their vehicles.

The group is accused of providing video footage from the San Bernardino Mountains in January of a bear moving inside a Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes to the insurance companies as part of their damage claims, the department said. Photos provided by the insurance department show what appeared to be scratches on the seats and doors.

The company viewing video of the Rolls-Royce suspected it was not a bear inside, but someone in a bear costume.

Detectives found two additional claims and with two different insurance companies for the four with the same date of loss and at the same location. Similar video was provided of the “bear” inside the Mercedes vehicles.

It was not immediately known if the four people arrested had attorneys.

The department had a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review the three videos, who concluded it was “clearly a human in a bear suit,” the insurance department said.

After executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear costume in the suspects’ home, the department said.

Bears breaking into homes or trash cans in search of food have become a problem in California from Lake Tahoe in the Sierra down to the foothill suburbs of Los Angeles, where some have been known to raid refrigerators and take dips in backyard pools and hot tubs.