Denver firefighter Michael Chalchesa arrested for insurance fraud, fired
A 33-year-old Denver man was arrested last week after a state investigation into a 2019 traffic accident. Denver Police Department officers took Michael G. Chalchesa into custody Thursday on four felony counts of insurance fraud.
Chalchesa's employment with the Denver Fire Department was terminated "effective immediately," DFD stated in a press release the next day.
Chalchesa was a firefighter with the department for eight months. At the time of his arrest, his employment was still on probationary status, a department spokesman told CBS4.
Chalchesa is accused of falsifying information provided to insurance adjustors about the accident and alleged repairs to his car following the collision, and of later making a false claim to repair the damage. He reportedly told adjustors he purchased parts for his Tesla from Craigslist, had a friend who worked for Tesla make the repairs, and a second friend paint the bumper, according to the affidavit. However, he did not have invoices for those repairs.
Chalchesa allegedly "incepted," or initiated, coverage of a new auto insurance policy an hour after the crash. But he argued with an investigator from the insurance company that his coverage began before the accident.
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Prosecutors believe Chalchesa recruited his friends to lie to investigators about the repairs as well. Those prosecutors studied bodycam video which, according to the affidavit, contradicted Chalchesa's recollection of the facts of the crash, namely the severity of damage and whether the car was towed.
They also learned that Chalchesa's friend never worked for Tesla.
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AllState, representing the other driver in the crash, filed a civil action against Chalchesa a year after the crash. That insurance company's attorney requested dismissal of the case a month and a half later, according to Arapahoe County court documents.
A criminal investigator with the Financial Fraud Unit of the Colorado Attorney General's Office first interviewed Chalchesa a month before he was hired by the Denver Fire Department.
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Chalchesa was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond on Saturday, two days after his arrest. He is scheduled to appear in Denver County court Dec. 8 for an arraignment in the state's case.
