Four Sacramento women are now paying the price for their involvement in an insurance fraud scheme in which one of them rented a U-Haul truck and purposely crashed into a car the other three were travelling in.

On January 3, 2014, Angelique Jones, 21, was sentenced to 300 days in the Sacramento County jail and placed on five years formal probation after pleading to a felony violation of insurance fraud.

Jones' mother and two sister's-in-law previously pleaded to the same charge and were each sentenced to 180 days in jail and five years felony probation. 

On December 11, 2011, Krystelmaree Marquez rented a U-Haul truck, added the extra insurance protection policy and then crashed with a car driven and occupied by her own relatives.  When questioned by California Department of Insurance (CDI) detectives, Marquez denied knowing the occupants of the car.  Investigators linked the four women through Facebook listings and discovered the relationship.  All four women claimed injuries in the accident.  Detectives said the potential loss to the insurance company was more than $37,000.

"This staged accident happened more than two years ago.  CDI detectives stayed on this case and saw it through to sentencing," said Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) which represents CDI investigators.  "Insurance fraud is a major crime that impacts all of us  by raising the cost for our insurance.   Also, staged accidents put innocent people in danger.  It takes strong investigative  skills  to crack down on this type of illegal activity.  CDI investigators are tops at bringing these kind of criminals to justice."

The two other defendants were Susan Lee and Angela Medeiros.  All four originally faced three felony counts of insurance fraud and faced up to five years in state prison and/or a fine of $50,000.