LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A family has been accused of causing at least two crashes on a busy highway in what Nevada State Police believe was an attempt at insurance fraud, according to documents obtained by 8 News Now investigators.
Adriana Montiel, Elias Montiel and Jennifer Montiel face charges including battery, failure to stop at the scene of an accident and attempted insurance fraud, records said.
On Wednesday, January 10, a Nevada State Police Trooper responded to a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near Spring Mountain Road. A man who was driving a dump truck told the officer he was driving a black SUV. There was also a white car in front of the SUV.
“He stated that the white vehicle suddenly stopped in front of the black SUV and the black SUV suddenly stopped in front of him and then took off,” the officer wrote in his report. “He stated that when he pulled up behind the black SUV, he was in the back.”
The policeman said that the dump truck was equipped with cameras that captured the accident. The officer was able to obtain the license plate of the SUV from the video. A witness also called police and described the driver of the SUV.
The report stated that after investigating the circumstances of the accident, the policeman believed that the accident “was likely a planned event” and that the driver of the SUV “may try again.” The officer then discovered a similar accident had just occurred when a landscaping truck collided with a similar SUV, which had stopped in the road with a white car in front of it.
Further investigation revealed that the SUV was registered to Jennifer Montiel, the trooper said.
The trooper investigating the first accident involving the dump truck responded to the second accident and found Jennifer Montiel in the front passenger seat, the trooper said. The trooper said Elias Montiel was driving the car, and Adriana Montiel was also a passenger in the car.
He said that from the information gathered from the two incidents, the policeman believed that the three brothers, “along with the unknown white car” would “(look) for a victim to stage a staged accident.”
While interviewing the three, the officer noticed that two of the siblings spoke “very loudly” to let others know what they were saying, the report said. One of the siblings told police the SUV would not go faster than 50 mph.
Then the soldier arrested the three brothers. No information about the white car soldiers suspected of being part of the scheme was provided in court documents.
The interim judge did not set bail because prosecutors had not yet filed criminal complaints before the siblings’ initial court appearance, records said. His future court date is scheduled for May. No attorney for either party is listed on their court docket.