Calif. Trio Arrested for Auto Insurance Fraud

On March 16, investigators from the Fresno County Urban Organized Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force and officers from the Stockton Police Department arrested Amberjeet Kaur Gill (aka Amber Gill, Amber Jeet Kaur Gill, Harjinder Kaur Gill), of Stockton; Pete Vargas, Jr. (aka Peter Vargas, Pedro Vargas, Jr., Pete Vargus, “Peteyboy”), of Fresno; and Becky Bishop (aka Becky Kumar, Becky Lee Kymar), also of Fresno, for multiple felonies, including solicitation to commit felony assault, surrounding an alleged auto insurance fraud scheme.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. The Task Force is comprised of the California Department of Insurance’s Fraud Division and the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.

Gill was charged with four counts of insurance fraud, one count of solicitation to commit felony assault and one count of filing a false police report. Her bail amount was set at $1,021,000.

Vargas was charged with two counts of insurance fraud and one count of solicitation to commit felony assault. His bail amount was set at $1,010,000.

Bishop was charged with two counts of insurance fraud. Her bail amount was set at $10,000.

The investigation began after the Fresno Help Eliminate Auto Theft task force received information about a suspicious auto theft and forwarded the lead to the Task Force in June 2004.

The ensuing investigation revealed that Gill was introduced by Bishop to Vargas, who was allegedly solicited to strip and burn Gill’s Ford Explorer so Gill could report it stolen and fraudulently collect insurance monies for the vehicle.

Additional investigating also revealed that Gill had allegedly solicited Vargas to severely beat an ex-business partner so that she could capitalize on her financial interest in their relationship. The former business partner had purchased an outstanding portion of a Fresno-area Port of Subs franchise from Gill’s family. A clause in that sale, however, allowed for this ownership to revert to Gill if just one payment was missed, which likely would have occurred if he had been injured.