LOS ANGELES – The day of reckoning finally came for 60-year-old Jose Manuel Villa, who stooped to embezzle over $400,000 from victims of fires in the L.A. area.
Police arrested the former licensed public adjuster on Wednesday on charges of embezzlement, grand theft and forgery.
Villa cashed and deposited into his own account many claims checks that insurance companies had issued to fire victims.
“These consumers were victimized twice,” said Commissioner Jones. “Once when their home was damaged by fire and then again when Villa allegedly forged endorsements on their insurance payments and stole the money intended to rebuild their homes.”
Villa was booked into the Orange County Men’s Jail. His bail was set at $250,000. He surrendered his public adjuster license, a document many people would probably like to burn.
