A former Costa Mesa Police Department officer was sentenced to six months in county jail for committing insurance fraud by presenting a false insurance claim and making false material statements related to the claim.

On Sept. 23, 2014, Ryan Patrick Natividad, 32, Corona, who was employed as a CMPD officer at the time of the crime, reported a work-related injury to CMPD.

Natividad falsely claimed that earlier in the day, he struck his hand against a brick wall near the CMPD jail while transporting an arrestee for booking. The defendant claimed that the arrestee stumbled into the wall, prompting him to use his hand to prevent the arrestee from striking the wall. He was subsequently directed by CMPD to seek immediate medical attention.

Natividad listed a jail employee as a witness to the incident in his injury paperwork.

The employee reviewed the jail surveillance camera footage, determined that the incident the defendant reported never occurred, and brought the video footage to his supervisor’s attention.

The video was submitted with Natividad’s workers’ compensation insurance claim to the City of Costa Mesa.

The City of Costa Mesa, the city’s insurance company AdminSure, and a private investigation firm hired by AdminSure investigated Natividad’s workers’ compensation insurance claim and reported the fraud to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, who investigated this case.

He was found guilty of one felony count each of Insurance fraud Making a fraudulent statement after a jury trial on Feb. 16, 2017.

He was now sentenced to six months in county jail, tree years formal probation and ordered to pay restitution.

Deputy District Attorney Noor Hasan of the Insurance Fraud Unit prosecuted this case.