ORANGE (CNS) - A 24-year-old Northridge woman is facing multiple felony insurance fraud counts involving an allegedly false claim that her car -- which was involved in a high-speed police pursuit with her husband at the wheel -- was stolen, the state Department of Insurance announced today.
DOI investigators and prosecutors allege that Ghosh filed the claim with Farmers Insurance to try and avoid criminal charges being filed against her husband. She allegedly told the insurance company she was celebrating at a nightclub in Costa Mesa and left with an unidentified man, who stole her 2012 Audi Q5 when she got out of the car.
According to the DOI and CHP, the driver that led California Highway Patrol officers on a Jan. 13, 2019, chase through Orange County in the Audi at speeds over 120 mph was actually Ghosh's husband, 27-year-old Kumar Harsh of Norwalk, who was arrested for alleged reckless evading and driving on a suspended license.
His wife filed her insurance claim the next day, later revising her story to say the Audi had been taken from the club's valet parking lot, according to the Department of Insurance.
She self-surrendered after a warrant with bail set at $1 million was issued for her arrest. Her arraignment, which had been set for today in Orange County Superior Court, was postponed to Dec. 10, according to a court spokesman.
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