California Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Filing False Auto Insurance Claims

A California man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for filing false claims on dozens of auto collisions.

Jacob McNabb, 33, of Bakersfield, was sentenced following a jury’s guilty verdict on four felony counts including insurance fraud after a California Department of Insurance investigation found he was involved in dozens of auto collisions where he would file false claims for insurance payouts.

McNabb was also sentenced to an additional 11 counts of filing false documents with the court, perjury and identity theft for a scheme involving fraud upon the Kern County Superior Court.

The CDI began an investigation into McNabb after the California Highway Patrol noticed an unusually high number of collisions involving him. The department’s investigation reportedly found McNabb was involved in roughly 40 auto collisions over six years. During the investigation detectives focused on four specific traffic collisions in which McNabb submitted insurance claims, but in which he failed to disclose the vehicle had pre-existing damage.

McNabb’s scheme would reportedly start with a collision, then he would file a claim, cash out his auto insurance benefits, and rather than having his vehicle repaired, he would pocket the money from the insurance payout.

He then was reportedly involved in a subsequent collision, in which the same area of his vehicle was impacted as the prior collision, and would file another claim, but he would fail to report the damage as preexisting to get a larger insurance payout. He reportedly repeated this scheme multiple times and targeted innocent drivers who he would later sue in small claims court as part of his second scheme.

McNabb was sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison. The Kern County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.