6 indicted in fake insurance claim conspiracy through Everett car shop

Four of the six defendants were arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court in connection with the business Riviera Auto Body on Bow Street in Everett, Ryan’s office said in a statement.

Fabio Rodrigo Jordao Correa, 31, of Saugus, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit larceny over $1,200, six counts of larceny over $1,200, one count of common and notorious thief, 11 counts of false or fraudulent insurance claims and one count of identity fraud. Jose Manuel Gordon, 49, of Roxbury, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit larceny over $1,200 and one count of receiving stolen property.

Tabajara Alves Ribeiro, 23, of Saugus, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit larceny over $1,200. Wanda Greene, 56, of Revere, was charged with receiving a bribe as a public employee, receiving unlawful gratuities as a public employee and receiving improper compensation as a public employee.

Two of the six people indicted are fugitives, Ryan’s office said. Jhon Alexander Lopera Munera, 40, of Revere, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit larceny over $1,200, six counts of larceny over $1,200, one count of common and notorious thief, 15 counts of false or fraudulent insurance claims, one count of bribery of a public employee, one count of giving unlawful gratuities to a public employee and one count of promising or offering improper compensation to a public employee.

Finally, Edwin Alexander Lopera Munera, 33, of Pawtucket, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit larceny over $1,200.

Both Muneras are believed to be in Colombia, Ryan’s office said.

Amidst a two-year investigation led by Ryan’s office, Everett police and the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau, authorities found that the auto body shop Riviera Auto Body was at the center of a “wide-ranging scheme to defraud multiple insurance carriers, the district attorney said.

The years-long scheme was masterminded by Jhon Alexander Lopera Munera and Correa, Ryan’s office said. They orchestrated the submission of scores of insurance claims for shop customers that defrauded insurance carriers in excess of $1 million in payments.

“The claims were false in a variety of ways: they often included descriptions of automobile collisions which had never occurred, or collisions in which the damage to the vehicles was inflated, or damage to the vehicle was done at the shop itself and was not the result of a collision,” Ryan’s office continued. “The claims also listed persons as drivers of vehicles involved [in] the collisions who were simply aliases of the defendants or stolen identities appropriated by the defendants for use in the fraudulent scheme.”

Jhon Alexander Lopera Munera “cultivated a relationship with” Greene, an RMV Revere clerk, Ryan’s office said. They performed RMV queries, transactions and received electronic payments and gift cards as compensation for services Greene did for Jhon Alexander Lopera Munera.

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