<p>A San Jose body shop owner is facing an insurance fraud charge following an undercover sting led by investigators from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.</p>
<p>Jairon Escobar, 49, owner and operator of Radiator &; Body Parts, was charged with jacking up an insurance damage estimate on a “newly purchased” bait car with a single dent to include thousands in damages that did not exist.</p>
<p>Escobar has a previous fraud conviction from 2017. He was arraigned Tuesday on charges of felony attempted insurance fraud. If convicted, he faces incarceration.</p>
<p>“Auto insurance fraud drives up premiums and hits drivers in their wallets,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “To body shop owners that choose illegal profits over honest work, know this: an undercover officer could be your next customer. Fraud isn’t worth your freedom.”</p>
<p>According to FBI statistics on non-health care insurance fraud, the average U.S. family pays between $400 and $700 per year in the form of increased premiums due to fraud.</p>
<p>The Organized Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force is composed of investigators from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, and the California Department of Insurance.</p>
<p>Last May, the task force set up an undercover operation to find body shops engaging in insurance fraud and encouraging customers who brought their damaged vehicles in for repair to also engage in insurance fraud. Among others, this operation targeted Escobar’s body shop, located on Barnard Avenue in San Jose.</p>
<p>The task force used a Toyota Camry in the operation supplied by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Though the car only had a dent above the front wheel fender, Escobar encouraged the undercover officer to tell the insurance company that there was more than $3,000 in damages to the vehicle. Escobar submitted the vehicle estimate of repairs to Mercury Insurance.</p>

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