Los Angeles residents reported their Rolls-Royce interior had been damaged by a bear but it was actually a person in a bear suit
- Footage of a bear damaging a Rolls-Royce in the US was released
- The furry offender caused chaos
- However, it turns out that it’s not all it seems
Published on Nov 19, 2024 at 8:22 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Nov 20, 2024 at 11:04 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
A new definition for ‘bear-faced cheek’ has to be added to the dictionary after a bear damaged a Rolls-Royce in the US state of California.
The story goes that four LA residents reported a ferocious animal broke into their 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost.
They even had incriminating footage of the furry offender causing chaos.
However, it turns out that their insurance claim was rather grizzly.
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The bear damaged the Rolls-Royce
However, the fuzzy footage sent to the insurance company as ‘evidence’ didn’t have the intended effect.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
The video ‘proof’ appeared to show the animal climbing into the front seat of the Rolls-Royce before clawing its way toward the back and falling out of the open passenger-side door after 30-45 seconds.
Photos of damage revealed claw marks on the leather interior and door lining – thankfully, it couldn’t have stolen the Spirit of Ecstacy even if it had wanted to.
However, rather than pushing their claim through, it has led to the four individuals from Glendale and Valley Village being arrested and charged with insurance fraud.
On a smaller scale, US car wash workers found a groundhog stuck in a woman’s car.
The truth is stranger than fiction
“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a costume,” the California Department of Insurance said in a statement.
After executing a search warrant, they indeed found a bear costume in the suspects’ home.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist confirmed that ‘it was clearly a human in a bear suit’.
Dubbed ‘Operation Bear Claw’, it led to the suspects being charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy.
They’d received $141,839 (£111,619) in insurance payments for their alleged scam.
This wasn’t the first time they’d tried the hair-brained scheme.
It was the third time the suspects filed insurance claims for the same rare method of damage, according to investigators.
Those incidents, filed via a different insurance company, involved a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E35.
The San Bernadino County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the bizarre charges.
One story you can believe is this moose breaking into a BMW performance shop and causing next-level chaos.
Let this be a lesson to you all – this particular scam doesn’t bear repeating.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
