Intro: I voted for Jill Stein, of course, but I was rooting for Kamala Harris. Not for any noble reason, like “the lesser evil,” but for a crass reason: a possible book contract. Kamala was a pivotal character in those pieces I wrote for the AVA about working in the San Francisco DA’s office under Terence ‘Kayo’ Hallinan. Maybe I could pitch it as a memoir… Too bad all my connections are dead, or retired so long ago that their connections are retired, or else I criticized them in a leaflet 52 years ago for which I was never forgiven. Oh, well… Kayo is looking pretty good in the rear-view mirror. If he had taken my advice and promoted her… If there had been a smooth transition of power at the end of his second term…. Maybe a novelist could do something with that. I’ll never rise above public information officer.
Feb. 22, 2001 For Immediate Release
Grand Jury Indicts Nine in Fraud Ring
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan announced today that his office, along with the California Department of Insurance, obtained an indictment Feb. 6, charging nine people with conspiring to commit a variety of fraud-related offenses. The investigation is the largest of its kind ever conducted by the SFDA. It targeted “cappers” (persons who bring in clients for medical providers and lawyers), medical professionals, and law offices engaged in wholesale insurance fraud.
According to records on file with the court, at the hub of the largest case is Susana Esquivel, 53, who was a longtime employee of the San Francisco Police Department Record Room, and Rolando ‘Rollie’ Meneses, 52, allegedly the main “capper” in the case.
The ring, or “mill,” came to light when civilians involved in car accidents were allegedly “capped” by Meneses, who tried to refer them to certain doctors and lawyers. Troubled that Meneses had access to the personal information contained in their accident reports, many of these citizens contacted law enforcement.
Not knowing the source of the leak of the reports, SFDA investigators, with the full assistance and cooperation of the San Francisco Police Department, inserted fictional auto accident reports that reflected undercover operatives as accident victims into the normal channels, including the SFPD record room where Susana Esquivel worked. Esquivel allegedly then provided the reports to Meneses and, within days, undercover operatives listed in the reports were “capped,” either by Meneses himself, or by Leila Cordova or Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Salumbides or Jose ‘Joe’ Calderon.
Some of the cappers allegedly referred the agents to Chiropractic Clinic, a business owned by Ulrich Moelgaard, for treatment, and to the Law Offices of Michael Goldfeder and the Law Offices of Buchanan & Field. The various players were surreptitiously recorded by the operatives and many of these tapes allegedly reveal coaching by Meneses and law office personnel to try to encourage the undercover investigators to complain of “pain” in order to inflate insurance claims. The law offices submitted claims to insurance companies that were anywhere from three to five times the medical bills.
“I am particularly pleased with the results of this investigation because it led to the apprehension of every link in the chain of fraud,” said District Attorney Hallinan, “Organized rings like this don’t just damage business interests, they also hurt the consumer, who has to pay premiums that are inflated because of fraud.”
The operation was launched because of a concern that large, organized insurance-fraud rings, (which are commonplace in southern California) were beginning to gain a foothold in San Francisco. Documents filed with the court show that two of the law offices that were targets of the investigation are satellite offices, whose main offices are in the Los Angeles area.
The nine people charged are: Rolando ‘Rollie’ Meneses, age 52 of South San Francisco; Susana Esquivel, age 53, Daly City; Alfredo ‘Freddy’ Coh, age 44, San Francisco; Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Salumbides, age 60, San Francisco; Cora Crisologo, age 37, Daly City; Leila Cordova, age 52, Richmond; Cora Luna, 42, San Francisco; Ulrich Moelgaard, 31, Denmark, and Jose Calderon, 31, Los Altos. They are charged in an 80-count complaint, that charges 14 conspiracies, including conspiracies to solicit others to file fraudulent insurance claims; referral of business with reckless disregard of whether insurance fraud will be committed; theft of official documents; assisting others in making false statements in support of insurance claims; workers’ compensation fraud; and illegal referral of legal clients, or “capping,” as well as the target offenses themselves. The charge carrying the most severe penalty is insurance fraud, which can result in a sentence of 2, 3, or 5 years in state prison. If convicted, Meneses could face in excess of 11 years in state prison, plus fines.
The investigation involved close cooperation between the SFDA and the state Department of Insurance and the San Francisco Police Department. The inter-agency operation was initiated by Robert Ring, former managing attorney of the Insurance Fraud Unit. Hallinan singled out for praise senior investigators Richard Hong and Duane Hadley and investigators John Arguello and James Montoya (supervised by John Auvinen.) The case is being prosecuted by Laura Meyers, who is assigned to the Insurance Fraud Unit of the Special Operations Division of the DA’s office.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the Fraud Division of the Department of Insurance have acknowledged the Daly City Police Department, California Highway Patrol, State Compensation Insurance Fund, C.N.A. Insurance Company, California Casualty Insurance, Kemper Insurance, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau for their assistance in this investigation.
Anyone who has been the victim of an accident, or who is a medical or legal professional, who has been contacted by Rolando ‘Rollie’ Meneses, Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Salumbides, Leila Cordova, or Jose ‘Joe’ Calderon, or anyone else, is encouraged to contact D.A. senior investigator, Richard Hong at…
For more information contact Laura Meyers at…
Good luck with a book contract.