A jury trial is scheduled for Tuesday in the case of five people charged with insurance fraud in Garden Grove.
According to the Orange County District Attorneys’s office, the trial of Phuong Nguyen, David Pham, Hoai Nguyen, Tracy Nguyen and Tony Nguyen will begin at 8:15 a.m. in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
It’s alleged by prosecutors that on June 13, 2008, Tony Nguyen (with Phuong Nguyen in the passenger seat) pulled his 1995 Nissan sedan in front of a 1990 Maxima as part of an insurance scam.
The Maxima was driven by Tracy Nguyen, accompanied by her husband Hoai Nguyen and with friend David Pham in the back seat.
The ensuing sideswipe collision at Brookhurst Street and Larson Avenue in Garden Grove is alleged to be part of a plan to defraud the insurance carriers.
On June 16, 2008, all five defendants filed insurance claims for bodily injury and vehicle damage with Infinity and State Farm insurance companies.
In statements, says the district attorney’s office, the two groups claimed to not know each other, but investigations later showed they were acquainted and even lived together for a while at a home in Huntington Beach.
The five eventually received settlements of about $3200 in collision claims in August and October of 2008.
