On Friday, March 25th, the remaining five defendants: Christian Ramirez, Hugo Ramirez, Javier Ramirez, Maria Ochoa, and Sandra Orozco pleaded guilty in Judge David Horwitz's court room in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Downtown Los Angeles.  By late November of 2010, Dominique Boudreax had already pleaded guilty to one count each of claims adjuster fraud, theft by extortion, and filing a false tax return.  She will be sentenced on May 10th 2011.  She is expected to be sentenced to three years of felony probation with 200 hours of community service.  She is now no longer in custody and was released last November.

Hugo Ramirez, age 26, who had been a workers' compensation claims adjuster at Tristar on the L.A. County account, pleaded guilty to one count of false and fraudulent claim and two counts of claims adjuster fraud.  He was sentenced to three years and four months in state prison.  His brother, Christian Ramirez, age 24, was sentenced to 2 years in state prison.  He pleaded guilty to one count each of false and fraudulent claims and claims adjuster fraud. 

The parents of Hugo and Christian Ramirez, Javier Ramirez and Maria Ochoa, were each sentenced to one year in county jail.  The were not given prison sentences.  Maria Ochoa had 178 days spent in jail at the time of her sentencing but had 267 days of custody credits.  She will therefore be released from custody soon, or may have already been released to be turned over to the immigration authorities.  When Javier Ramirez finishes his jail sentence he too will be turned over to immigration authorities as will Hugo and Christian Ramirez when they complete their prison terms.  They were hired by Tristar approximately five to six years ago under false names and identities. 

Dominique Boudreax and Sandra Orozco, the wives of Hugo and Christian Ramirez, respectively, do not have immigration issues. Sandra Orozco pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft and had $2,000 seized from a bank account which was applied towards restitution. She was given three years probation, must do 200 hours of community service, and was ordered not to leave the United States. She is no longer in custody and had bail posted for her last October after only serving 17 days in jail. 

93,000 dollars was seized from a bank account belonging to Christian Ramirez and was applied towards the restitution.  The total restitution for all the defendants combined is over one million dollars.  95,000 dollars total, so far, has been applied towards it from the bank accounts of Christian Ramirez and Sandra Orozco. 

Deputy District Attorney Samer Hathout, of the Heathcare Fraud Division of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, who prosecuted the case, stated today by phone, "We're hoping we can get a substantial amount of restitution for Los Angeles County."  

It is suggested by the evidence, fiduciary positions, and sentences that the substantial masterminds and perpetrators of the crime ring were Hugo and Christian Ramirez. They sucked their parents and then their own wives into the scam. 

Hugo and Christian Ramirez as workers' compensation claims adjusters had their father, a claims clerk, release the payments they authorized.  Then, their wives and their mother ostensibly owned transportation and investigation companies.  Payments were then paid to these family transportation and investigation companies both for services never rendered and for services that were vended out to sub-contractors but were then marked up substantially above the industry standard. 

lonce@adjustercom.com