Galt husband and wife convicted of auto insurance fraud, to pay $40,000, Yolo DA says

A Galt husband and wife were recently convicted of auto insurance fraud following a 2018 crash in Yolo County.

In a news release, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office said Lovepreet Randhawa was sentenced to prison time in March and his wife Parwinder Randhawa was sentenced to a year probation in February.

The two had filed a damages claim with Mercury Insurance after a crash in February 2018 on Interstate 80. During an investigation, CHP officers determined that Lovepreet, the driver at fault, had given false identifying information.

Prosecutors said that the Randhawas named a victim of identity theft as the driver of the vehicle during the crash, not Lovepreet.

Despite initially denying fraud charges, both Lovepreet and Parwinder eventually pleaded no contest, according to Yolo County court records. On Feb. 18, Parwinder was sentenced on a misdemeanor charge to a year’s probation.

On March 4, Lovepreet was given a two-year split sentence of 60 days in jail custody and the rest of time in mandatory supervision, per court records. The Randhawas were also ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution.

“Filing false insurance claims and insurance fraud have an effect on the rising cost of auto insurance for everyone,” Yolo District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in a prepared statement. “We are committed to investigating and prosecuting this type of fraud in our community.”