Four Californians who claimed more than $200,000 in insurance for bear-related damage to their luxury cars have been charged with fraud after investigators discovered a bear suit in their home.
The three men and a woman had given video to insurers as evidence a bear had entered two Mercedes-Benz cars and a Rolls-Royce in January at Lake Arrowhead, in the San Bernardino Mountains, about 100 kilometres east of Los Angeles.
Agents' suspicions were aroused by the peculiar way the "bear" moved in the footage.
A biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who reviewed the footage concluded it was "clearly a human in a bear suit", the California Department of Insurance said.
A subsequent search of a home revealed a bear suit and a pair of meat-shredding claws.
The six-pronged Kitchen Mama cooking implements seemed to match the six puncture marks and scratches seen on the damaged upholstery.
Bears have five toes.
Detectives found claims for damage to a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350 had been made with three insurance companies.
Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39, have all been charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy.
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.
ABC
