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A Redwood City husband and wife have pleaded no contest to charges that they bilked customers of their auto-repair shop by putting rats in their cars and claiming that the vehicles needed costly work to fix rodent damage, authorities said today.
Cars
Mehran Baranriz, 46, entered his plea Monday to 10 counts of insurance fraud in San Mateo County Superior Court. His wife, Bita Imani, 35, pleaded no contest to felony tax evasion.
The couple had initially rejected plea deals with prosecutors but changed their minds during a preliminary hearing before Judge Craig Parsons. They will be sentenced Aug. 18.
The couple, who ran the repair shop Group Specialists in Redwood City, billed 25 insurance companies for 236 claims over four years for work that was never performed, said Steve Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney.
They told some customers that rodents had caused damage. In fact, the couple were buying rats, killing them and planting them in customers' cars, Wagstaffe said.
The total fraud to insurance companies was $1.2 million, Wagstaffe said. The couple are expected to be ordered to pay full restitution.