Five charged with insurance fraud

A Huntington Beach couple and three of their Westminster friends were arrested and charged Wednesday with staging an auto collision and then filing insurance claims for profit.

Hoai Nguyen, 57, and Tracy Nguyen, 50, have been charged with three felony counts of insurance fraud and two felony counts of grand theft.

If convicted, each faces up to five years in state prison.

“These scams endanger other drivers and take money from our pockets,” state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said in a statement. “We will continue to work hand-in-hand with our local partners to fight this type of fraud.”

The couple allegedly was sideswiped in Garden Grove at 10:30 p.m. June 13 while driving a 1990 Nissan Maxima. They were hit by their friends, Tony and Phuong Nguyen of Westminster, who were in a 1995 Nissan sedan. The couple’s friend David Pham was in their back seat.

Prosecutors say the parties then “exchanged information” but didn’t request medical personnel or police assistance.

All five defendants filed more than $60,000 in insurance claims for bodily injury and vehicular damage with State Farm.

During subsequent recorded insurance statements, the parties said they didn’t know each other, according to prosecutors.

The following month, the Department of Insurance began an investigation into the case at the request of an insurance provider.

Prosecutors determined that all five defendants knew each other and have lived at various times in a Huntington Beach home owned by Hoai and Tracy Nguyen.

The five are being held on $30,000 bail each, and will be arraigned Thursday in Santa Ana.