2 women charged with felonies return to court
One faces 67 counts including murder for wrong-way crash; other is charged in $6M insurance fraud scheme
Two women accused of committing felonies in the Santa Clarita Valley returned to court Wednesday, receiving future court dates to appear once again.
Nicole Thibault
A Santa Clarita woman charged with murder in connection to a wrongway crash appeared in court this week, being ordered to return once again on Dec. 2 for an arraignment.
Nicole Thibault, 31, is facing a total of 67 different felony counts, with the most severe allegations including murder and assault, after investigators say she purposefully veered into oncoming traffic on Jan. 22, 2018, and colliding with a vehicle driven by Daniel Castillo, 69, of Fontana, who was killed.
During an arraignment, a defendant enters a plea of guilty or not guilty to the various charges levied against them.
The series of events leading to Castillo’s death, investigators said at the time of the incident, began after Thibault allegedly stole a vehicle in Riverside and drove it down Interstate 210.
While in the Claremont area, the Santa Clarita Valley woman is then alleged to have purposefully charged into oncoming traffic, killing Castillo, and injuring two others in the same traffic collision. A total of four vehicles were reportedly hit during the deadly wrongway crash, and Thibault herself sustained major injuries.
More than a week after being hospitalized, Thibault was officially arrested on Jan. 31, 2018 after having recovered in the hospital.
She was found to be mentally competent in December 2018 after undergoing a court-ordered mental competency assessment, and was held to answer in August 2019.
Thibault is being held in lieu of $2 million bail at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.
Robin Long
A Newhall chiropractor, who was one of 15 chiropractors charged in a $6 million insurance fraud and illegal kickback scheme involving medical claims made on car crashes, returned to court this past week.
Robin Stacy Long, 53, of Newhall was arrested and her felony complaint lists a total of 18 felony counts, including charges against all of the defendants of insurance fraud and participating in patient referral rebates when licensed in the healing arts or as a chiropractor.
She is set to return on Nov. 12 for a motion to dismiss.
The ring that Long was arrested alongside with were all booked in 2019. According to investigators, Long’s coconspirators are from various places in Los Angeles County including Beverly Hills, Sherman Oaks, Yorba Linda and Irvine.
The ring included filing false claims for medical services, and the alleged ringleader of the operation, Yury Chernega of Studio City, reportedly offered to refer new patients to other chiropractors in return for an illegal referral fee, through which he collected about $6 million, prosecutors have said.