Buried car found on property of Silicon Valley home linked to massive SJ fraud case
ATHERTON — Police are digging into why somebody buried a automobile within the yard of a multimillion-dollar Northern California house linked to certainly one of San Joaquin County’s largest-ever insurance coverage fraud schemes within the Nineties and left unused baggage of concrete inside.
The automobile was found Thursday morning by landscapers within the prosperous city of Atherton in Silicon Valley, police mentioned in a information launch.
Cadaver canines alerted to doable human stays, however none had been discovered greater than 12 hours after the automobile was recovered, based on Atherton Police Cmdr. Daniel Larsen.
Police imagine the automobile was buried 4 to five ft deep within the Nineties — earlier than the present homeowners purchased the house — however Larsen wouldn’t say what led detectives to that conclusion.
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The unused baggage of concrete have been positioned all through the car, although it was blanketed by filth over the roof, he mentioned.
The sprawling house and property is valued at $15 million, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Larsen mentioned the present householders weren’t below investigation.
Johnny Bocktune Lew, who owned the Stockbridge Avenue, Atherton, property within the Nineties, had a protracted prison historical past that included a 1977 conviction on two counts of tried homicide and a homicide conviction within the Sixties that was later overturned, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
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In 1999 he was accused of paying undercover officers $30,000 in money and gold watches valued at $20,000 to sink a $1.2 million yacht in a part of an alleged insurance coverage fraud scheme in what was on the time thought of the most important single case of insurance coverage fraud the state had seen, The File reported in 1999.
Lew, then 62, was arrested in Redwood Metropolis when he confirmed as much as fill out what he thought was the ultimate police report for an insurance coverage firm after he reported his 1997 Viking Sport Cruiser lacking. He was later moved to the San Joaquin County Jail.
“That is the most important single (fraudulent insurance coverage declare that I do know of that’s been submitted,” mentioned then-Deputy District Lawyer Franklin Stephenson, who on the time headed up the Financial Crimes Division.
Lew recruited individuals from San Joaquin County to destroy his yacht, a modern vessel greater than 50 ft lengthy, officers mentioned.
“We’re not giving all the precise particulars,” mentioned Scott Edelen, spokesman for the Division of Insurance coverage. “It was in San Joaquin County the place the terrorist threats occurred. He mentioned if anybody divulged his scheme, he would have them killed or kill them.”
Atherton is among the wealthiest cities within the U.S., with about 7,000 residents inside its almost 5 sq. miles.
This text initially appeared on The File: Grim discover at Atherton mansion as soon as owned by man in big SJ fraud case
