Christopher and Kimberly Phelps of Yucaipa are facing felony fraud charges after filing 17 insurance claims related to car crashes that the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office said they intentionally caused, sometimes with their child in the car.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department began looking into the couple after finding their YouTube channel of dashcam footage, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The department found 23 collisions documented on the channel that were linked to 17 insurance claims filed by Christopher.
The Phelpses have pleaded not guilty to each charge. The San Bernardino County Office of the Public Defender has not responded to our request for comment.
The YouTube page appears to have since been deleted. The username, BLU3 GH057, is held by a new account that was created Feb. 9. But dashcam footage was shared on other pages. One video attributed to BLU3 GHO57, and included in a compilation of car accidents, shows a collision after the dash cam owner accelerates while another car tries to merge in front of it.
In another clip attributed to BLU3 GHO57, a car is seen driving through a Stater Bros. parking lot, and almost colliding into another car that was turning into the parking lot lane. Not all videos showed the dashcam owner getting into an accident. A third video showed a truck behind the dash cam merging onto the freeway, and almost hitting a van that was in its blind spot.
The Phelpses are charged with multiple felony counts of insurance fraud, assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment.
The California Department of Insurance posted their own compilation of road rage incidents related to the Phelpses, in which cars drove on the wrong side of the road.
Christopher Phelps has been charged with his own independent charges: six felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, 11 felony counts of insurance fraud and five felony counts of child endangerment. He had previously been charged with one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon and one felony count of causing a vehicle collision for the purpose of presenting a false claim.
Kimberly has been charged with two counts of felony child endangerment and one count of felony insurance fraud.
Christopher was involved in a rear-end collision last month, after stopping for what the District Attorney’s Office said was no apparent reason.
The couple are held on $500,000 bail each.
Case Nos. FSB23000969 and FSB23000970
Read the complaint here.
