3 Arrested in Forged Car Insurance Case

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of selling bogus insurance policies to drivers with suspended licenses, authorities said.

Rafael Antonio Donado, 44, Oscar Lozada Bernal, 30, and Jorge Mario Perdomo, 21, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of forgery and were each being held in lieu of $25,000 bail, said Claire Page, a supervising investigator for the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Authorities said the men would approach the desperate drivers outside DMV offices and charge them $600 for an insurance document needed to reinstate their licenses.

But the documents they offered were forgeries and the insurance didn’t exist, Page said.

Authorities allege the men were part of a ring that sold motorists at least 100 fake SR-22 forms. Those forms are needed by suspended drivers to show they meet insurance requirements for reinstatement of their licenses. Policies sold to such high-risk drivers normally cost $1,500 to $2,000 a year, Page said.

The three men were arrested outside the Santa Ana DMV office, Page said. Two others were being sought.

The arrests resulted from a seven-month investigation that began when forged insurance papers were found at local DMV offices.