Adjuster Sentenced To Ten Years For Participation In Staged Collision Ring

An insurance adjuster has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison and ordered to pay nearly $700,000 in restitution to a half-dozen insurance companies for his role in what prosecutors described Wednesday as a staged auto collision ring. Erwin Raul Mejia, who was previously convicted of insurance fraud in 2005, pleaded guilty last Friday to 10 felony counts of insurance fraud in two separate cases, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Mejia, 42, had worked for three of the six insurance companies to which he was ordered to pay restitution, according to prosecutors, who said he played an integral role in a staged auto collision ring that obtained insurance policies with the intent to submit fraudulent bodily injury, vandalism and property damage claims.