Cambridge is a college town. She would go out to local restaurants and sit around the bar and get to know the local college boys. She did not understand their discussions, but she knew how to make them happy. When Big Daddy would go away on a business trip, she became very lonely and sometimes took a college boy home with her.

She fell in love with a poor college boy. Even after he graduated he could not get a job as good as hers. She knew she had to keep Big Daddy happy or she would lose the luxuries she enjoyed.

She told the college boy her concerns one night as they cuddled in bed. He suggested they drive the Mercedes to Mexico, sell it and then report it stolen. With the money she received from the sale of the car added to the money from the insurance company, they could move to San Francisco and start a new life. The plan was foolproof.

The next weekend they drove to El Gato, Mexico and sold the Mercedes for $50,000. The used car dealer gave them cash. When they got back to Cambridge, the college boy told her what to tell the police then went back to his Harvard dormitory room.

The next day she called the Cambridge Police Department to report the theft of her car, telling the police she left it parked on the street in front of her apartment with the alarm set. When she walked out to drive to work, her car was missing.

Two bored policemen wrote down the information she gave. At 10:00 a.m., this was the fifth auto theft report they had taken in three hours. There were no suspects and no evidence to follow up. They gave her a receipt including the report number so she could give it to her insurance company. She called Big Daddy to tell him what happened and he sent his chauffeur to bring her to work. He then called his insurance broker, who reported the loss to the insurance company.

The adjuster visited her at the office and took a brief recorded statement about the facts. He obtained very little information, unable to concentrate on his work because of her cleavage.

The adjuster determined the value of the Mercedes was $90,000. He thought this would be a simple claim. All he had to do was fill out two forms, a proof of loss and a report to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Reporting auto thefts to the NICB was automatic and computerized. He was sure he would quickly issue a check for $90,000 so the young lady could buy a new Mercedes.

The NICB records all stolen vehicles reported to it by its member insurers in its computers. Because many car thieves take their vehicles across the border to Mexico, NICB has agents in Mexico who record license and VIN numbers on any U.S. automobiles they see in Mexico for more than one day. An agent had spotted the Massachusetts plates on the Mercedes in the used car dealer's lot the same morning the theft was reported to the Cambridge Police. The numbers went into the computer.

When the adjuster reported the theft, the NICB computer matched his number with the number recorded by the agent in Texas. The agent went back to the used car lot to verify that the car was still there. It was. He interviewed the dealer and told him the car had been reported stolen. The dealer claimed shock. He did not buy stolen vehicles. He showed the NICB agent the ownership certificate signed by the insured. The agent reported his findings to the adjuster one day after the proof of loss was signed and minutes before the check was to go out in the mail.

The adjuster had a photocopy of the ownership certificate with the insured's signature transferring title to the Mexican car dealer. The agent and the adjuster visited the insured at her office. They confronted her with the ownership certificate.

She was too young, too innocent and not bright enough to lie anymore. The college boy hadn't told her what to do in such a situation. She began to cry and told the whole story. She agreed to sign a paper withdrawing her claim and begged them not to report her to the police.

The adjuster and the NICB agent told her it was out of their hands. The law forced them to report her to the Bureau of Fraudulent Claims. It would be up to that police agency and the Department of Insurance to decide whether she should be prosecuted.

The Bureau of Fraudulent Claims presented the case to the District Attorney. The District Attorney told the investigators he needed statements taken by police investigators of the young woman, her college boy, Big Daddy and the Mexican car dealer. All of them refused to talk to the police agents. Big Daddy hired a lawyer for his administrative assistant. The same lawyer represented the college boy. The Mexican car dealer refused to speak to any American police officer. Big Daddy would only admit that he had given the Mercedes to his administrative assistant as a bonus for her excellent work. Since the District Attorney could not repeat the work done by the NICB and the adjuster, he refused to prosecute.

Big Daddy punished his administrative assistant. He made her promise she would never see the college boy again. He made the college boy give him the $50,000 and used that money to buy his assistant a less prestigious $45,000 Cadillac sedan.