Four Southern Californians charged with staging fake crashes in insurance fraud scheme
Four Southern California residents were charged with staging fake crashes as part of an insurance fraud scheme, according to investigators with the California Department of Insurance.
In a news release, they said that the Inland Empire Automobile Insurance Fraud Task Force determined that at least one of the incidents endangered an innocent driver, and that they believe there may be additional victims.
The investigation began earlier in the year when Upland Police Department officers contacted the task force for a series of crashes that they believed were being staged for insurance payouts. Detectives determined that the four suspects were friends and learned that on June 8, 2025, they allegedly staged a collision in Upland by crashing into one another. Further investigation found that two of the suspects had already caused a separate crash on April 21, 2025, at which time they targeted an innocent driver.
All four of the suspects were identified as Anaheim residents Jhoiner Rodriguez Cellis, 31, and Nailer Mendez Diaz, 35, and Upland residents Melissa Cervantes De La Torre, 30 and Plata Sampayo, 28. Investigators say that Sampayo and De La Torre caused the April 21 crash in Montclair.
Detectives then reviewed body-worn camera footage from the June 8 collision in Upland, which investigators said shows officers arriving at the spot of the crash "where Plata Sampayo and Cervantes De La Torre were in a vehicle that struck another vehicle occupied by Rodriguez Celis and Mendez Diaz."
The release says that all four of the involved parties sought medical attention after the crash "in an attempt to legitimize their alleged injuries and increase insurance payouts." The estimated loss was approximately $36,000, detectives said.
On March 19, 2026, task force investigators served search warrants at four locations and took each of the suspects into custody, noting that Plata Sampayo also had an outstanding warrant for robbery in Los Angeles.
All four were booked at West Valley Detention Center before the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office filed felony insurance fraud charges against them on Tuesday. Cervantes De La Torre and Plata Sampayo were also charged with assault with a deadly weapon for the crash involving the innocent driver in Montclair.
"Staged collisions are not victimless crimes. They can leave innocent drivers physically, emotionally, and financially impacted," said Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. "The work our Inland Empire Automobile Insurance Fraud Task Force is doing is essential in keeping California drivers safe. We will continue to work with our partners to protect innocent consumers from being targeted in fraud schemes."
The task force is comprised of personnel from the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Insurance and the San Bernardino County and Riverside County District Attorney's offices.
Due to the nature of the crimes, detectives believe that there may be additional victims connected to the group of alleged fraudsters. Anyone who believes they were involved in a crash with the suspects, or who thinks they were part of a staged crash, is urged to contact the California Department of Insurance at 909-919-2200.
