A jewelry store owner pleaded guilty today to falsely reporting one of his diamonds was stolen so he could collect $99,000 in insurance, but he was spared prison because he is paying back the insurance company.
Lior Bitton, 37, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to a felony count of insurance fraud.
Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Thomas Rees accepted the terms of Bitton's plea agreement with prosecutors and sentenced Bitton to five days in jail, 90 days of home confinement and three years probation, Deputy District Attorney Matt Lockhart said.
Bitton, who owns the Pacific Diamonds and Gems jewelry store in Los Angeles, filed the false claim for a 4.21-carat diamond after one of his employees was robbed in Westminster of 20 diamonds on Jan. 7, 2010. The robbery remains unsolved, but the 4.21-carat diamond was not one of the gems stolen, Lockhart said.
Bitton received about $99,000 for the 4.21-carat diamond, but he has paid back about $65,000, and will also give the diamond to the insurance company, the prosecutor said.
"He had a clause in the contract that if there was fraud he had to pay double," Lockhart said. "So he was double whacked because of that clause in the contract."
Bitton's last payment is due in April, Lockhart said.
Lockhart agreed to spare Bitton prison time in the plea agreement because he has paid back so much of the money and because he wanted the jeweler to be free to keep working to settle the rest of the debt.
Last March, Bitton went to Israel and met up with a friend who is a diamond wholesaler. Bitton wanted the wholesaler to get the gem recertified by the Gemological Institute of America, but the institute was able to determine it had already been certified because every diamond has unique qualities that make them like fingerprints, Lockhart said. source: Auto insurance quotes, Get auto insurance quotes, Compare auto insurance, Auto insurance comparisons, Auto insurance quote, Instant auto insurance, Affordable auto insurance, Auto insurance companies, Auto insurance rates, Auto insurance discounts, Auto car insurance, Student auto insurance, Auto insurance brokers, General auto insurance, American auto insurance, Auto insurance UK, Auto insurance claims, Fake auto insurance, Auto insurance complaints
