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Name: People v. Gofman
Case #: B139753
Opinion Date: 11/06/2001
District 2 DCA
Division: 4
Citation: 97 Cal.App.4th 965
Summary

Depublished: see subsequent history notes. An indictment was brought against the six defendants charging them with insurance fraud offenses. The factual basis for the indictment was an alleged conspiracy and various overt actions taken to defraud insurance companies with false claims stemming from eight staged car accidents. Six of car accidents also formed the factual basis for a prior federal indictment against the same defendants alleging mail fraud offenses. The defendants entered guilty pleas on certain of the federal offenses under a plea bargain agreement. Here, the appellate court concluded that the trial court did not err in dismissing the state counts which were based on the same “acts” to which the defendant pled guilty in the federal action. However, the trial court erred when it dismissed two counts of the indictment which related to two accidents not alleged in the federal action, and against two defendants who were not convicted in the federal action.