O.C. Couple Accused of Insurance Fraud

GARDEN GROVE — A couple accused of staging accidents in six states to collect insurance have been arrested on suspicion of fraud, along with a chiropractor who regulators say signed fake medical reports for them.

California Department of Insurance fraud investigators identified the three Monday as Linda Nashay, 38, and her husband, George Dennisaro, 41, both of Garden Grove, and Ehalid Dinkane, 55, a Los Angeles chiropractor. They are accused in a 19-count fraud and conspiracy complaint of filing more than $100,000 in insurance claims dating to 1992 and collecting $52,899.

Dinkane, who was arrested March 7, pleaded not guilty to five counts last week and was freed over the weekend on $25,000 bail, Los Angeles Deputy Public Defender Robin Bernstein-Lev said. Nashay and Dennisaro, arrested Wednesday, were being held at Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail pending arraignment today on 18 counts each in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

The investigation began last April on a referral from General Accident Insurance Co., said Gilbert Rosas, an Insurance Department supervisor. In a claim to General Accident, Nashay said she was injured when she slipped and fell at a Bedford Park, Ill., hotel, and was treated in California.

With help from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, an industry-funded group, investigators linked Nashay and Dennisaro to at least 18 other alleged frauds, largely by tracing similar claims filed against different insurers back to post office boxes in Manhattan Beach and Torrance, said Joseph Charney, a major fraud prosecutor for the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.

The couple used numerous aliases to collect on unchallenged claims for twisted ankles and back injuries in the $2,000-$3,000 range, but didn’t respond when insurers asked them for follow-up information, Rosas and Charney said.

“Most companies just like to settle claims that size,” Rosas said. “They consider them a nuisance.”

The claims included auto personal injury claims and a property claim in hotels and restaurants in California, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada and Utah.

“They would be in Colorado for a few days and then you’d see a few claims from Colorado, one right after the other,” Rosas said.

Bernstein-Lev and Randolph W. Wright, a lawyer for Dennisaro and Nashay, declined comment, saying they had not yet fully reviewed the accusations in the 27-page complaint against the defendants.