A 53-year-old Brooklyn man and his 34-year-old accomplice have been sentenced to prison time for orchestrating three staged car crashes on New York City highways between August and October 2024, part of a scheme that recruited drivers to fake collisions and pretend injuries for insurance payouts. Jaime Huiracocha and Victor Murillo were sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Jerry Iannece after pleading guilty to charges tied to the coordinated crashes, which struck vehicles on the Belt Parkway and the Nassau Expressway.
Governor Kathy Hochul and Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced the sentencings, framing the case as part of a broader push to crack down on insurance fraud that has driven up costs for drivers statewide. According to LongIsland.com, Huiracocha was sentenced to one to three years in prison for insurance fraud in the third degree, plus a concurrent one-year jail term for conspiracy in the fifth degree. Murillo received two years in prison on the staging and insurance fraud charges, along with a concurrent one-year sentence for conspiracy, with all his sentences running together.
The Queens District Attorney's Financial Frauds Bureau secured the convictions against the two men, who prosecutors say orchestrated all three crashes together. Huiracocha pleaded guilty in May 2026 to insurance fraud in the third degree and conspiracy in the fifth degree, while Murillo pleaded guilty to staging a motor vehicle accident in the second degree, insurance fraud in the fourth degree, and conspiracy in the fifth degree, the outlet's report notes.
How the Crashes Unfolded on Three Highways
The first staged crash happened on August 24, 2024, on the Belt Parkway near the Erskine Street exit, where a 47-year-old Long Island woman was driving westbound around 8 a.m. Murillo merged a silver Honda Civic directly in front of her vehicle and stopped, causing a collision, per the same account. Dashcam footage from her car captured the crash along with a red Kia Sportage trailing behind, and later showed Murillo exiting the Honda and getting into the red Kia, which then drove away from the scene.
The second crash took place on October 3, 2024, on the Nassau Expressway near Cross Bay Boulevard in Lindenwood. A 44-year-old New Jersey man was driving a tractor-trailer in the middle lane around noon when Murillo cut a Nissan Xterra directly in front of it, and the truck struck the Nissan. A female participant in the scheme claimed she had been the one driving the Nissan at the time of the collision, and Huiracocha, who had been trailing the operation in a separate vehicle, spoke with the truck driver at the scene, the report states.
The third staged crash occurred on October 16, 2024, on the Belt Parkway in Rosedale near the Nassau County border. A 31-year-old Queens woman was driving north in the left lane around noon when Murillo cut a Honda Civic in front of her and abruptly stopped, then reversed the Honda into her vehicle. Murillo also deliberately braked to cause vehicles behind him to rear-end his car in another maneuver described in the case, and the crash damaged both the victim's car and the Honda.
Throughout the scheme, Huiracocha and Victor Murillo recruited participants for the three crashes and offered them cash payouts of thousands of dollars, directing occupants to visit specific medical clinics afterward and instructing crash participants to pretend they had been injured. Huiracocha directed Murillo, who acted as the designated driver for the staged collisions, on when and how to trigger each crash while following him separately.
Viral Dashcam Video Helped Crack the Case
The October 16, 2024 Belt Parkway crash gained wider attention after the victim's dashcam video, showing the Honda Civic cutting her off and reversing into her car while occupants held up a tarp to obscure seat-swapping in the back seat, circulated widely online, according to Insurance Journal. The NYPD conducted the investigation into the ring with assistance from New York State Department of Financial Services investigators. Two additional alleged participants, Maikel Martinez and Ivon Matus-Martinez, pleaded guilty in connection with the staged crashes and are expected to be sentenced next month, per the announcement. Hoodline previously reported on Martinez's initial 2024 arrest following that same viral crash.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said staged collisions endanger the drivers targeted and drive up insurance costs for everyone else. Governor Hochul said those who stage crashes, attempt to defraud insurers or endanger New Yorkers will be held accountable, and Assemblymember David Weprin said staged collisions are dangerous crimes that put innocent motorists and families at risk.
Closing a Legal Loophole for Ring Leaders
Under New York Penal Law § 176.75, staging a motor vehicle accident in the second degree is a Class E felony, defined as intentionally causing a collision to further a fraudulent insurance act. New York lawmakers introduced Assembly Bill A3851 and Senate Bill S5232 to amend that statute so that anyone who directs, hires, encourages, or orchestrates another person to stage a crash faces the same Class E felony exposure as the driver, according to the New York State Senate. New York prosecutors may now seek criminal penalties against anyone organizing a staged accident, not just the person behind the wheel.
New York's FY 2027 enacted budget included sweeping reforms addressing fraudulent claims and staged accidents, and separately allocated $2 million in funding for the New York State Police to investigate staged crash rings, per the Times Union. The reforms tighten statutory definitions of serious injury, cap damages for people engaging in unlawful behavior during an accident, limit damages for those mostly at fault, prohibit insurers from setting rates based on factors like homeownership, education or zip code, and impose stringent oversight of insurance company rates. The New York State Department of Financial Services issued guidance implementing the reforms in July 2026 and provided specialized training to hundreds of law enforcement partners that same month.
Civil court records show that before his criminal indictment, Huiracocha had already been named as a plaintiff in two separate personal injury lawsuits tied to motor vehicle accidents in New York, the Times Union reported. New York recorded 1,729 staged crashes in 2023, ranking second nationwide behind Florida, and insurance companies submitted a record 44,361 suspected fraud reports to the state's Insurance Frauds Bureau in 2024, an 83% jump from 2020.
What It Costs New York Drivers
New York drivers paid an average annual full-coverage auto insurance premium of over $4,000 in 2025 and 2026, roughly $1,500 above the national average, according to the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul. State officials and the Insurance Information Institute estimate that staged collisions and related no-fault fraud add up to $300 a year to the average New York motorist's insurance bill, a cost the governor's office directly ties to schemes like the one Huiracocha and Murillo ran. People who suspect insurance fraud may file an online report at dfs.ny.gov/consumers or call the insurance fraud hotline at 888-372-8369.
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