Fake Funerals Staged in Life Insurance Fraud

A Los Angeles fraud ring sought to cash in on life insurance policies for individuals who were still living.
Fake Funerals Staged in Life Insurance Fraud
8/16/2010
Updated:
8/16/2010
A Los Angeles fraud ring sought to cash in on life insurance policies for individuals who were still living, according to an FBI investigation. The group prepared death certificates and staged a funeral where they buried an empty casket.

On July 30 the last defendant indicted in the insurance fraud ring, Jean Crump, 67, was convicted by a federal jury. She was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. She could be sentenced for as many as 90 years in prison. She and her accomplices will be sentenced by a federal judge in November.

Crump and her three accomplices, who all pleaded guilty, sought to defraud insurance companies of $1.2 million in life insurance claims for individuals who never died. The group caused false death certificates to be prepared, purchased a burial plot, staged a funeral and buried an empty casket to convince insurance companies the death was real.

“After two insurance companies began investigating the claims, Crump and her accomplices exhumed the casket, filled it with a mannequin and cow parts, and had the casket cremated. Crump and her accomplices filed false documents with the Los Angeles County stating that the remains were cremated and scattered at sea, even though no corpse existed,” according to an FBI statement.