Bear that damaged luxury cars was actually a person in a costume, insurance companies say

LOS ANGELES (AP) – California has seen its share of bears breaking into cars. But bears caught on camera crashing into luxury cars tipped off insurance companies 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 insurance companies as part of their claims, the department said. Photos provided by the insurance department show what appeared to be scratches on the seats and doors.

The company, which saw video of the Rolls-Royce, suspected that it was not a bear inside, but a person 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 by the “bear” inside the Mercedes vehicles.

It was not immediately known whether the four arrested had lawyers.

The department had a California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist 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 at the suspects’ home, the department said.

Bears break into their homes or trash bins in search of food has 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 backyard dips pools and hot tubs.