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FRAUD |
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Auto
Insurance Fraud |
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To Report Auto
Insurance Fraud, call (559) 733-6600 |
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Tulare
County
has experienced a broad range of fraudulent automobile insurance claims
over the past 10 years. Cases of individuals deliberately destroying
vehicles to make claims and escape financial obligations are relatively
common. Recently schemes to defraud auto insurers through falsified
repair costs and staged accidents have been uncovered and investigated
by this office. These claims have steadily increased in number and
sophistication and have resulted in serious loss to the insurance
industry over the past several years. This loss is then passed on to the
consumer through increased insurance rates.
To meet this growing problem, our office established the Auto Insurance
Fraud Unit in 1994. This unit investigates and vertically prosecutes
cases involving vehicle insurance fraud. This unit has the expertise and
ability to take a case from filing to sentencing. An experienced and
trained deputy district attorney and investigator are assigned to this
program. Caseloads are reduced in order to provide the attorney with the
ability to focus maximum attention to program cases.
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Consumer Fraud |
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The
principle of caveat emptor ("buyer beware"), prevalent until the 20th
century, has given way to consumer protection statutes which protect
unwary consumers from false advertising and deceptive, unfair and
otherwise unlawful business practices, as well as protecting honest
businesses from unscrupulous operators in the marketplace.
The District Attorney believes that restitution is an important factor
in these types of cases. Restitution for individual consumers, where
appropriate, is always a component of the remedies sought. In cases
where individual consumer victims cannot be identified, the District
Attorney has developed the Direct Community Benefit Program. Through
this program, violators have the opportunity to make a contribution
which will benefit the community as a whole.
The District Attorney has implemented a
consumer fraud hotline at
(559) 730-2556, which
can be used by consumers or businesses wanting to report, in confidence,
suspected unlawful activity. |
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Welfare Fraud |
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While many government
programs fall into the category labeled "welfare," discussions of
welfare fraud and welfare reform generally focus upon Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Food Stamps.
The focus upon these programs is appropriate in Tulare
County. There are
346,000 people living here and of those approximately 160,000 are
considered employable and part of the work force. However, more than
60,000 are receiving AFDC or Food Stamps. Tulare County, with the
highest per capita rate of public assistance in the
United States, pays out
$10,987,055 in AFDC and $3,863,000 in Food Stamps every month.
Welfare programs are good and necessary, but because of the growing
number of welfare cheats, the public has begun to view welfare as a
problem. The District Attorney's office calls welfare cheats "criminals"
and deals with them as we deal with any other criminal.
In 2000, the District Attorney filed criminal charges against 170
welfare cheats, who stole more than one million dollars from the AFDC
and Food Stamp programs. Most were sentenced to serve time in the county
jail, a few went to prison and some were required to give volunteer
service instead of jail time. All were required to repay the stolen
money and most have a felony conviction on their records.
The Welfare Fraud Unit has a full-time attorney and a large
investigative team to discover, arrest and prosecute welfare criminals.
In addition, the Early Fraud Detection/Prevention Program identifies
ineligible applicants and saved an estimated $18 million dollars in
2000.
The District Attorney has a zero-tolerance policy on welfare fraud,
which means that any time there is a provable case of welfare fraud, the
criminal will be prosecuted regardless of the amount stolen or their
personal situation. |
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Worker's Compensation Fraud |
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To Report Worker's
Compensation Fraud, call (559) 733-6600 |
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Worker's compensation
fraud harms employers by contributing to the increasing high cost of
worker's compensation insurance and harms employees by undermining the
perceived legitimacy of all worker's compensation claims. Worker's
compensation fraud has burgeoned into a $5 billion dollar drain on
insurance companies and on our state. Prevention of worker's
compensation insurance fraud assists in restoring confidence in the
worker's compensation system and also facilitates expedient and full
compensation for employees with legitimate injuries.
In response to this growing problem, the Worker's Compensation
Insurance Fraud Unit was established by this office in 1994. The program
has been recognized by the Department of Insurance for productivity in
1995 and 1996. The program investigates and vertically prosecutes cases
involving worker's compensation insurance fraud. The unit consists of
one specialized district attorney investigator and one vertical
prosecutor.
This unit has the expertise and ability to take a case from filing to
sentencing, as only experienced and trained prosecutors are assigned to
this program. Caseloads are reduced in order to provide the program
attorney with the ability to focus maximum attention on program cases.
This intense level of concentration yields increased convictions and
sentences. |
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