2 sentenced for staging car crashes on NYC highways in insurance fraud scheme
Two men were sentenced Thursday for staging crashes on New York City highways to get fraudulent insurance payouts.
Jaime Huiracocha, 53, and Victor Murillo, 34, pleaded guilty to charges relating to the crashes that happened between August and October 2024.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the details of the investigation Thursday.
Prosecutors said Huiracocha and Murillo recruited others to participate in three separate crashes, enticing them with promises of thousands in cash.
Murillo was the designated driver. He would slam on the brakes of the car he was driving to intentionally cause the driver behind him to rear-end the car, prosecutors said. One time, the car behind Murillo braked to avoid a collision, but Murillo reversed into the vehicle to cause a crash, prosecutors said. That incident was caught on dashcam video.
Meanwhile, Huiracocha drove in a separate vehicle and trailed Murillo on the highway. Huiracocha told Murillo when and how to stage the crash, investigators said.
After the collisions, Murillo would climb into the front passenger seat and exit the car from the passenger side. He would flee the scene in a getaway car that pulled in front of the car involved in the crash, according to prosecutors
Each time, the passengers would pretend to be injured. Huiracocha would send those people to specific medical clinics after the crashes, prosecutors said.
"Staged auto collisions not only terrify the drivers who are targeted, they put other motorists at risk and ultimately lead to increased insurance costs for all New Yorkers," Katz said.
Two of the crashes were caught on dash-camera video, where Murillo was seen exiting the vehicle he was driving into a getaway car.
Huiracocha was sentenced to one to three years in prison, and Murillo was sentenced to two years.
Two other people who allegedly participated in the scheme also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in September.
New York's 2027 budget includes several reforms from Hochul aimed at reducing insurance fraud. She faced pushback from trial lawyers who said the reforms could stifle victims, but the governor said they will lower premiums for drivers.
"This kind of reckless, illegal behavior has been driving up auto insurance costs for millions of New Yorkers for far too long," Hochul said. "By cracking down, we're not just getting dangerous criminals off our roads; we're putting money back into the pockets of everyday drivers."
Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of insurance fraud is urged to call the Insurance Fraud Hotline at 888-372-8369 or file an online report.
