California Body Shop Owner Charged With Insurance Fraud on Bait Car

A San Jose, California, body shop owner was charged with insurance fraud following an undercover sting operation that reportedly revealed he jacked an insurance damage estimate on a bait car.

The operation, led by investigators from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, reportedly found that Jairon Escobar, 49, owner and operator of Radiator & Body Parts, inflated damages from a car with a single dent to include thousands in damages that did not exist.

The sting operation was conducted by Organized Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force, comprised of investigators from the Santa Clara County D.A.’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, and the California Department of Insurance.

In May 2024, the task force set up an undercover operation to find body shops engaging in insurance fraud and encouraging customers who brought in their damaged vehicles for repair to also engage in fraud. Escobar’s body shop was one of those businesses targeted by the task force.

Task force operatives used as the bait car a Toyota Camry supplied by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The car only had a dent above the front wheel fender, but Escobar encouraged the undercover officer report to the insurer more than $3,000 in damages to the vehicle. Escobar submitted the vehicle estimate of repairs to Mercury Insurance, according to the Santa Clara County D.A.’s Office.

Escobar was arraigned Tuesday on charges of felony attempted insurance fraud. If convicted, he faces incarceration.