The suspects allegedly crashed older-model cars on purpose and collected roughly $500,000 across 28 insurance claims.
Nearly three-dozen people, most of them from San Jose, have been charged in an alleged car crash ring that collected a half million dollars in insurance, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney said Thursday.
A total of 33 people were each charged with felony insurance fraud in the operation dubbed “Coffee Break,” in which the suspects allegedly reported that they accidentally spilled coffee on themselves, lost control of the cars and crashed, Deputy District Attorney Charlotte Chang said.
The suspects allegedly crashed older-model cars on purpose for the sake of collecting insurance and collected roughly $500,000 across 28 claims, she said. Chang said the alleged car crash ring was “very complex and very organized” compared to other cases she has worked on.
The group consists of family members, acquaintances and friends, Chang said. Many of the suspects were recruited from two apartment complexes in San Jose, according to Chang.
Ten of the 14 defendants in custody appeared at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill Thursday afternoon, Chang said.
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