A Las Vegas business owner, Erwin Lanada, faces up to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a fake armed robbery at his cell phone repair store to fraudulently collect insurance money. According to the indictment, Lanada hired Marco Antonio Capistran to stage the robbery, providing him with a silver revolver and instructing him to tie him up during the incident. After the staged robbery, Lanada filed insurance claims with State Farm, receiving checks totaling $88,611.23.
The scheme was uncovered by the FBI and local law enforcement, highlighting the impact of fraud on insurance premiums. Lanada has agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud and is set to be sentenced on January 5. Capistran also reached a plea agreement related to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, carrying a similar sentence.
