Mendota High football coach Beto Mejia arrested on insurance fraud charges
By Pablo Lopez and Carmen George, The Fresno Bee | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
A criminal complaint charges Mejia, 32, with three felony counts of insurance fraud and one misdemeanor charge of filing a false report.
An arrest warrant affidavit says Mejia has admitted to lying about the theft of his all-terrain vehicle in order to collect insurance on it. Mejia declined to comment when contacted late Wednesday.
A co-defendant in the case, former Mendota player
Their arraignment in
Andrade's mother is
If convicted Mejia could face five years in state prison and a fine of up to
"Insurance fraud affects California consumers when policyholders are forced to pay higher premiums to offset the cost of fraud," said Insurance Commissioner
Mejia's teams won consecutive Central Section championships in 2011 and 2012. He was The Fresno Bee Coach of the Year in 2012 and Coach of the Year for the
His arrest was the result of an investigation by the
Mejia was booked into the
"It's unfortunate," Galvin said of Mejia's arrest. "He's certainly brought a lot of positive recognition to
Along with serving as varsity football coach, Mejia has worked as a substitute teacher for
"Pending further investigation, the employee (Mejia) is placed on administrative leave and is not granted access to district property at any location," Crass wrote in a statement. "The district has assigned other personnel to cover
Crass said the district does not believe any other of its employees or students were involved in the fraud allegations.
An affidavit by detective
Mejia reported to his insurance company that his ATV was stolen on
On
The account began to unravel when an investigation revealed cell phone records showed no text messages from Andrade to Mejia. Instead, the records showed telephone calls from Mejia to Andrade, the affidavit says.
In addition, surveillance footage showed Mejia had not been at the restaurant with friends as he had claimed, the affidavit says.
When Mejia failed to make a sworn statement to his insurance carrier on
The affidavit says the ATV had engine damage, which made investigators suspicious of Mejia's insurance claim.
"There are no signs the engine was tampered with in any way, just driven hard and the valve stem broke off," the affidavit says. The affidavit also says one of Mejia's associates told investigators Mejia "staged the theft of his ATV and filed an insurance claim because the ATV had mechanical problems."
Insurance fraud crimes happen "all of the time," Storm said. "It's important for people to understand we all pay for these crimes with higher insurance premiums ... there's no such thing as a victimless crime."
Storm said tips from insurance companies and individuals about insurance fraud are "invaluable."
National spotlight
In February, the
The features focus on how the city -- where the unemployment rate is almost 38% and poverty is so high that 94% of the students qualify for the free or reduced-cost lunches -- had produced powerhouse high school football teams. In 2013, after two Central Section Division VI championships, Mendota moved up to D-V to compete against larger schools.
This success came despite many of the players working long hours in the fields to help support their immigrant families.
The ESPN feature said the chief motivation for this success was Mejia and star running back
In the television interview, Mejia says, "Half these kids probably come from (single-parent) homes. They all learned how to survive at a young age because of the hardships they've endured. We might be closer to 70% of kids who have to work to help out their families."
"When you hear something like this there's absolutely zero rejoiceness, just sadness, and I'm saddened. Beto has done some great things in
"Being a brother coach, we're all in this together, we're all in the same fight, hopefully building great habits with young people to help them be successful in life," he added. "I'm praying for Beto."
The reporters can be reached at (559) 441-6330, [email protected] or [email protected], or @beecourts or @CarmenGeorge on Twitter.
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