Homeowners have started filing lawsuits against the Southern California Edison utility company, claiming it’s responsible for one of the blazes that tore through the Los Angeles area last week — the deadly Eaton Fire — citing alleged witness accounts and videos from social media that show flames breaking out underneath transmission towers.

“Based upon our investigation, our discussions with various consultants, the public statements of SCE, and the video evidence of the fire’s origin, we believe that the Eaton Fire was ignited because of SCE’s failure to de-energize its overhead wires, which traverse Eaton Canyon,” said Richard Bridgford, attorney with the Newport Beach law firm Bridgford, Gleason and Artinian, in a statement Monday after filing a lawsuit on behalf of Altadena homeowner Jeremy Gursey in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The ex-wife of a California doctor who reportedly helped celebrities and athletes overcome addiction allegedly hired the man who killed her ex-husband in an ambush-style murder for “financial gain.”

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday that his office is charging 53-year-old Ahang Mirshojae with murder in the death of her ex-husband, Dr. Hamid Mirshojae.

“She’s been charged with, effectively, hiring a hitman,” Hochman said at a press conference.

Ahang Mirshojae is charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon. According to Hochman, the ex-wife hired Evan Hardman, 41, to sneak up behind the doctor as he left his Woodland Hills practice in August and shoot him in the back of the head before a getaway driver, Ashley Rose Sweeting, 40, helped him flee the scene. Another defendant, 26-year-old Sarallah Jawed, also helped carry out the scheme by driving Hardman to Texas after the murder, prosecutors say.

More from Law&Crime: Parents of woman accused in ambush-style murder of Microsoft exec ex-husband win custody of kids, widow insists it’s not what victim ‘would have wanted’

“The horror and betrayal of this crime are beyond words,” Hochman said in a statement. “The depth of the deceit and violence involved in this case is chilling, and we will not rest until justice is served.”

Hardman is accused of intentionally killing the victim by “lying in wait.” Sweeting, who is charged with accessory after the fact, allegedly drove Hardman to and from the scene. Hardman and Sweeting waited until Dr. Mirshojae, 61, walked out of his office around 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23 and the alleged gunman carried out the murder as he was entering his car, prosecutors said.

Hochman also revealed that Ahang Mirshojae hired Hardman and Jawed to jump her ex-husband on May 3 and beat him with a blunt object, reportedly a baseball bat. Dr. Mirshojae and his ex-wife have had a decade-long legal battle over their divorce, Los Angeles NBC affiliate KNBC reported, citing legal documents. Prosecutors said she ordered the hit for “financial gain” but have not said what role the reported divorce battle may have played in the slaying. Hamid Mirshojae had since remarried.

Video released this week by California‘s Department of Insurance allegedly shows a group of Los Angeles residents committing fake bear attacks on their own luxury cars — including a Rolls-Royce Ghost and Mercedes-Benz “G-Wagon” — using a bear suit and meat shredders, according to officials.

“It was clearly a human in a bear suit,” the department said in a press release on Wednesday after handing down charges to Ruben Tamrazian, 26, Ararat Chirkinian, 39, Vahe Muradkhanyan, 32, and Alfiya Zuckerman, 39.

The group is accused of using a bear costume to fake at least three attacks on a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, a 2015 Mercedes G63 AMG and a 2022 Mercedes E350. The original price tags for all three vehicles, combined, is over $350,000 — with a base sedan for the Ghost, alone, coming in at $245,000.

Four arrested after videos show fake bear attacks for insurance payouts.

Operation Bear Claw reveals suspects allegedly wore bear costume to commit insurance fraud. pic.twitter.com/9mzfvaq2B3

— CA Dept of Insurance (@CDInews) November 13, 2024

State investigators say an insurance company came forward earlier this year after receiving a report about one of the “bear” attacks, which seemed suspicious. The company had gotten a claim about an incident in Lake Arrowhead on Jan. 28, which left a Rolls-Royce — the Ghost — with interior damage, according to officials.

A surveillance video provided by the suspects showed what they claimed was a bear having its way with their vehicle, opening a front door and making its way to the back for some grub before exiting, the suspects told the insurance company. Photos released by CDI show damage and scratches to the car’s interior.

“Upon further scrutiny of the video, the investigation determined the bear was actually a person in a bear costume,” CDI officials said Wednesday. “Detectives found two additional insurance claims with two different insurance companies, for the suspects with the same date of loss and at the same location.” Additional video had also been submitted.

After launching an investigation, the department was able to piece everything together using some canny techniques of its own.

“To further ensure it was not actually a bear in the video, the Department had a biologist from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife review the three alleged bear videos and they also opined it was clearly a human in a bear suit,” CDI officials said. “After executing a search warrant, detectives found the bear costume in the suspects’ home.”

In total, the insurance companies involved were allegedly defrauded of $141,839, according to CDI. The department was assisted by Glendale Police and California Highway Patrol. San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office is handling the case.

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