Two Southland cell phone store owners are due back in court next week in connection with charges of filing $1.3 million in false insurance claims for allegedly lost, stolen or damaged phones.
Jason Young Kwon, 32, of Santa Fe Springs, and David Kisuk Chang, 32, of Burbank, are each charged with 22 counts of insurance fraud, 18 counts of identity theft and one count of grand theft, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Both men pleaded not guilty earlier this week and are due back in court May 28, when a date will set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for them to stand trial.
Prosecutors said the men, who owned separate stores, filed the false claims beginning in late 2011 and submitted forged driver’s licenses to support the bogus claims. The insurance companies would provide replacement phones for the allegedly damaged or lost merchandise, and the new phones were then sold for profit, prosecutors said.
They face more than 43 years in prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
— City News Service