One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
Riverside County awarded $2.4 million to battle insurance fraud
Riverside County district attorney Paul Zellerbach, who accepted the grant for Riverside County.
(
Steven Cuevas
)
Listen
1:03
Riverside County awarded $2.4 million to battle insurance fraud
State insurance commissioner Dave Jones visited Riverside Thursday to unveil a new effort that targets worker’s compensation and auto insurance fraud.
At a news conference, Jones handed over one of those giant cardboard checks to Riverside District Attorney Paul Zellerbach.
“We have our work cut out for us, but grants like this? Believe me, I’ll take $2.5 million to my budget every day of the week,” Zellerbach said.
The $2.5 million is just a fraction of state grants doled out to California counties to combat workers’ comp cams and other insurance frauds.
Zellerbach says the Inland region is seeing a surge of such cases. He ties it to the downturn in the economy.
“We’re out there combating this type of activity. Unfortunately in these tough economic times we’ve seen an increase in automobile insurance fraud, workers’ compensation fraud,” he said. “We also have life and annuity fraud and that’s on the upswing as well, so this affects not only the insurance providers but all of us because it affects the premiums that we pay every day.”
Southern California counties received the biggest share of $35 million in state funds dispersed to counties. L.A. and Orange County combined got $9 million in anti-insurance fraud funding.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
