Possible human remains, fraud links
ATHERTON, Calif. — Police are investigating why someone buried a stolen car in the yard of a multimillion-dollar Northern California home linked to one of the world’s biggest insurance fraud schemes. San Joaquin County in the 1990s.
The Mercedes Benz convertible, filled with bags of unused concrete, was discovered by landscapers in the affluent Silicon Valley town of Atherton on Thursday, Atherton Mayor Rick DeGolia said, citing a police statement.
Although cadaver dogs were alerted to possible human remains Thursday, none have been found more than 24 hours after San Mateo County Crime Lab technicians began searching the car, DeGolia said.
Police believe the car was buried 4-5ft deep in the 1990s – before the current owners bought the house – but Atherton Police Cmdr. Daniel Larsen would not say what led detectives to this conclusion.
At New York:Human remains found in suitcases during wellness check for New York woman, police say
The unused bags of concrete were placed throughout the vehicle, although it was covered with dirt on the roof, Larsen said. The car was reported stolen in September 1992 in nearby Palo Alto, DeGolia said.
On Friday, technicians were able to search the passenger side of the convertible, which was buried with the roof down. Corpse dogs were again brought home and again “made a slight notification of possible human remains,” DeGolia said.
Larsen said dogs might react to human remains, old bones, blood, vomit, or a combination of these things.
He said the possible owner of the car is believed to be deceased, but authorities are awaiting DMV records to confirm this.
The sprawling home and property is valued at $15 million, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Larsen said the current owners are not under investigation.
August:A New Zealand family was searching a suitcase they had won. They found human remains.
What is everyone talking about? Subscribe to our trendy newsletter to receive the latest news of the day
The house with pool and tennis court was built by Johnny Bocktune Lew in the 1990s, his daughter, Jacq Searle, told the San Francisco Chronicle. She said the family lived at the property in the 1990s, when Atherton police believe the car was buried, and her father died in 2015 in Washington state.
Lew had a lengthy criminal history that included a 1977 conviction for two counts of attempted murder and a 1960s murder conviction that was later overturned, The Chronicle reported.
In 1999, Lew was accused of paying undercover agents $30,000 in cash and $20,000 in gold watches to sink a $1.2 million yacht as part of a an alleged insurance fraud scheme in what was at the time believed to be the largest case of insurance fraud the state had seen, San Joaquin County officials told The Stockton Record , part of the USA TODAY Network, in 1999.
Lew, then 62, was arrested when he showed up to fill out what he believed to be an insurance company’s final police report after reporting his 1997 Viking Sport Cruiser missing He was later transferred to San Joaquin County Jail.
“This is the largest (fraudulent insurance claim that I know of) that has ever been submitted,” said then-assistant district attorney Franklin Stephenson, who headed the crimes division at the time. economic.
Judge:Trump allegedly part of ‘conspiracy to defraud’ US, knew fraud allegation wrong
Lew recruited people from San Joaquin County to destroy his yacht, a sleek vessel more than 50 feet long, officials said.
“We don’t give all the exact details,” said Scott Edelen, spokesman for the Department of Insurance. “It was in San Joaquin County that the terrorist threats took place. He said if anyone disclosed his scheme, he would have them killed or kill them.
Atherton is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States, with approximately 7,000 residents in almost 5 square miles.
USA Today
