On the 9th of May, 2025, a seemingly routine theft report would become a textbook case of insurance fraud detection. Officer Nix's investigation demonstrates the critical difference between investigative questioning and custodial interrogation. How you doing? Nick. >> I'm good. How are you? Nice to meet you. Um So, basically, I came out my golf cart right here. Um Like inside or outside? >> No, inside. Yeah, yeah. Definitely inside. Um inside and we came home from a work event in Vegas on When was this? Labor Day. So, Sunday we came home. Uh my wife noticed that it was gone, but she figured that I was just cuz it's all modded up, she figured that it I was just doing something with it. So, she told me yesterday, "Hey, you know, I haven't seen the golf cart in the garage." And I was like, "Oh, shit." So, I went out here and obviously it's not here. So >> garage open? >> I didn't know. No, but sometimes she does cuz she's a woman. She pulled >> No, she said she said she did it. Um I don't have any cameras so like or anything like that either. Um but I mean, she's not notorious for it, but I mean, sometimes she does. But it had to if we came back from Vegas, it had to have happened when we were gone. Labor Day weekend. >> But then but did anything else inside look messy or out in the garage look messy? No, literally. No, not at all. But I counted all my You can come in. I counted all So, we just got married in Rome about 4 months ago. And we have like I don't even know how many thousands of dollars worth of wedding gifts here. And I counted it and it looks like all my boxes are here, too. But I have to go through the registry list and and recount. But I was looking at all my tools, my jacks and stuff and all that stuff is here, but um yeah, so >> So, everything is here? I mean, for the most part, I mean, this this is just like hitting me like a train right now. >> I know. Can you pull this garage down for me? Can I pull Yeah. Unless you Yeah. How you good? You better back up. Can you open this without the garage being open? Excuse me? Can you open this by hand from the outside? >> So, when I first got into this unit, you could. And then I had somebody come look >> about from like when the golf cart was gone. Oh, like when I came back? >> Mhm. Uh no. I usually just hit the button in my car right here and it just opens up. >> it's a stupid question, but like when you left, right? >> Okay. >> From when you left and when you came back, were you Are you able Is some- somebody able to open it without pressing the button or the clicker? Cuz it doesn't Honest, I'd be lying. I've never tried. Do you want to do it real quick? Like try to open it? Yeah, man, I I can't. Cuz I'm going to be honest with you, if somebody would steal a golf cart, they'll steal all this [ __ ] right here. You got a Yeti cooler, which is expensive. You have a blower. You have all this [ __ ] right here. >> I know. >> signs in the garage that somebody opened it. >> I know. And you're parked right there, right? No, this car was gone. I was at the airport. I'm saying when you left, you were you parked you >> No, I took this to the airport, man. >> I know, but I'm saying, when you got in your car to go to the airport, was your car parked here? When I got in my car to go to leave? >> Yes. Um I'm going to find investigation Yeah. Yeah, it was it was parked here. >> if you were parked right there, you're staring at your garage. If it was open, you'd notice. No, no, no, I know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, definitely. It was I I don't think it was open. So, so That's what I'm trying to figure I'm trying to figure out how somebody would take your golf cart if this was closed and there was nothing else besides the car. This wall I have a door right there, too. But that leads to your house, no? No, no, no. It leads to a hallway. Oh, okay. >> disconnected. Okay, I thought this connected. Let's go look at the >> Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, this is this leads to like there's like a whole thing right here. This leads to right here. And also one thing Yeah, I usually don't really lock this, honestly. That's on me. But one thing I did want to show you that I noticed is I mean, you can see it from either way, but if you close this, this never used to be able to do this. Look. See how like it just it's still closed, but it's doing that? >> Oh, that's So, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if that's normal or what. But in my opinion, I've never been able to see that before. You said there's a chance you left this door unlocked. >> Yeah. Unlocked, yeah. Um I usually never lock this, honestly. That's on completely on me, but I mean And then So, they could have came I guess came in >> There is no other place that you could have put the golf cart, like maybe >> No, no, no. It sits right here. I have it hooked up literally a charger right here and everything. No, but I'm saying, there's no You didn't drop it off like your wife said to somebody to get it hooked up >> No, no, it was already all set. Everything was done. All modded out. I had it I had had it for months without dropping it off. I haven't even anything done to it. Okay. Nothing done >> Uh and then you want to report it stolen? Uh yeah, definitely. I mean, it's You can see I always park right here. You can see the tire tracks on my turf and everything. Okay. Uh Yeah, definitely. >> Do you have some type of serial number for the golf cart? Uh I have my my insurance card on my phone, but that'll probably have Yeah, that's my Yes, sir. Does the golf cart have a matching serial number or >> No, it's after market, yeah. Yeah, cuz I had I had everything modified. Mhm. So, battery was different. It had to be a bigger battery for all the accessories. It was a four-seater. They all face forward. I had after market speakers, subs, and take it to events for work and stuff. So, that's why I'm not saying >> Um so, I'm going to be honest with you, man. >> Yeah. If somebody stole this golf cart, I'm not saying >> This this is the first thing that I was worried about >> they did it or they didn't, but it's very unlikely they would take all this [ __ ] If they know what Crate & Barrel is. >> but at least that Yeti cooler. I mean >> To anybody a Yeti cooler No, you're good. Yeti cooler is expensive. Just grab it quick. Bro, me, if I'm a thief, I'm grabbing all the [ __ ] jacks and tools and [ __ ] No, I'm with you, but I You're 100% sure you didn't >> Brother, 1 million You didn't have it at work, maybe? >> No, never. You let anybody borrow it? No. Anybody has access to the garage besides you and your wife? >> Nope. Nope. Just me and my wife. That's it. Nobody else comes in here. I mean, this is you can see how this is my this is my little this is my little dojo. This is >> your wife? Oh, yeah, she already knows. Um this is my dojo. I come in here like this is >> Let's Let's look at the things to see if we can get a serial number that we Yeah, yeah, let me just pull it up on my uh Uh unfortunately, if we can't get a serial number, we won't be able to like input it into the system as stolen. No, no, I got you. Yeah, yeah. No, I'll be able to They took They took the cart. Cuz I had it I had it street legal and everything, so I had to have a serial number cuz then I had insurance. I had a street legal I had a license plate on the thing and everything, bro. So, like I had to have insurance or else I would have got pulled over right away. This might be a stretch, but are we able to see if this golf cart code from the property? Do me a favor. Raise your right hand for me. You swear to affirm that you tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. How you doing? So, your neighbor's just golf cart got stolen. Him? Yeah. Did you see Him? Did you see him with his golf cart? Didn't he put it in his garage? Shut up. Your His golf cart is in your garage? Didn't Nick put it his golf cart in my garage? >> Yes. How many golf carts Yeah. When did he put it in your garage? Yesterday or the day before yesterday? He did it himself. I wasn't Whoever Whoever owns that garage He reported this I mean It's pretty stupid if he's actually doing it on purpose. Maybe he just forgot. I'm going to go and check the cameras. If he didn't say anything, maybe he didn't do it. Or somewhere else. If he got married, he left, right? Yeah, that's what he told me. He took the plate off. You know? I wasn't there. He put it in your Oh, yeah. I wasn't there. I wasn't Um Just go back to your apartment. I'm going to talk to him. I'm going to give him one opportunity now before I take him the other route. Cuz obviously possible I believe he forgot. I'm going to give him a chance. I'm going to talk to him and see if he tells me the truth. He does? Cuz he might have been mistaken. Might have generally forgot. So, I'm going to see, all Yeah, walk to his apartment. I don't think so, either. He didn't seem like Last question. You free to talk to us after this? Yeah. Sorry, I was about to walk away. You got [ __ ] Come on, inside, baby. Come here. Is your wife home? No. Yeah. You swore earlier that you told me the that wasn't true about me. Right? Tell me exactly what happened this morning from the beginning. Okay, so we went to Vegas on the 28th on Thursday. Okay. And then when we came home from Vegas, which was on Sunday, to my Nana's 75th birthday party at her house, we got home. She says that she knew she noticed it was gone but figured it was being worked on. Okay. So, I didn't know anything about it. She came to my work today cuz it was a short week so Monday. She came to my work today and she said, "Hey, where's the golf cart?" I said, "What do you mean?" And she said, "Well, I noticed when we got home from Vegas that it wasn't there." And I was like, "Well, it shouldn't It should definitely be there." So, then I got home and noticed it was gone and I called you guys. You don't remember anything about the golf cart with your neighbors? Golf cart with my neighbor? No. No. You don't remember putting the golf cart in your neighbor's garage? You take the plate off? Yesterday? It was yesterday. You remember what you did back in July or in Vegas. How do you remember what you did yesterday? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know automatically. Listen, you're You're not a You're not a stupid guy. I It's not like you didn't remember that you put it in there. It was yesterday. What are you What are you What are you trying to get to here? Are you Are you trying to do some type of insurance? What are you trying to do? No, I I don't even honestly don't even think it's insured for theft. Um Dude, honestly, believe it or I mean, obviously it's not going to believe me, but I genuinely just So, why'd you take the plate off the golf cart? Well, I took the plate off the golf cart because it's sitting in my neighbor's garage. So, you knew that. What's that? You knew that it was in there. Yeah, I So, why ain't you reporting it stolen if you know it's in the garage? No, I literally just I'm I'm sorry. I'm literally just now like So, I'm going to give you one more one more You know the neighbor has cameras on it. Yeah, yeah. I'm giving you one more opportunity to come out clean. What are you trying to do here? Okay. So, expensive like what are you trying to No, I'm Yes, sir. So, I been having a lot of problems with the golf cart. A lot of them. Um it's just becoming like an an an endless pit and I wanted it to honestly just be gone. And I didn't know where to put it. I didn't know where to park it. I asked my neighbor if he had space. He said, "Yeah." Um so, I put it there. Um but it's not even like insured. But But what are you Why are you trying to report it stolen? I I honestly just Yeah, whatever. Yeah. You knew that it was going to be stolen. I don't know. I'm going to get out. You ever been arrested? No. Never in my life. Where's the plate for the golf cart? Um it would probably be in my office. I don't I don't know if I put it in my duffel bag or not, honestly. Now, run me exactly what happened yesterday. Okay. Um the guy I was talking about um come to pick it up and then but The people who No, no, no. I I don't know anything about it. They got off. Um so, I've had like endless problems with it. My secondary clutch is going bad. The wheels are like like it's just it's just becoming money pit, honestly. So, I honestly just wanted to get rid of it. So, I asked my neighbor if he had space. I just put it in there. Um and and honestly that's what I was just so tired of having over there. And now with it back over here cuz it's mine left it in there. I literally owe nothing on it at all. I mean, you putting it in the garage and then you call the police saying I know. saying that you don't know where the golf cart is and someone stole it. I mean You're sitting in my face telling me that you don't know where it is that it was stolen. I know. And you gave me a false sworn statement. Does your girlfriend know anything about this? About my wife? >> Your wife knows about this. Does she know anything about this? She like Does she know what the [ __ ] No, no. I'm I'm I'm a [ __ ] idiot, dude, honestly. So [ __ ] stupid. I've never been arrested in my life. I have no idea what I'm thinking right now. And I'm not saying I'm literally just trying to So, you said it's been giving you issues you're just trying to get rid But Why didn't you just like sell it or something instead of calling the police? What was your plan? Cuz you're reporting it stolen, it's not going to get rid of it. You're still going to have it every day. Still going to give you issues. So, what's your plan? You're reporting insurance? Well, I didn't know if I was going to like if my insurance premium was going to go up by having two of them on there. What do you Like having Like if I went and I purchased another one cuz it's on cuz I literally That's what my plan was. I was going to just go get another one. But I didn't know if my insurance premium would go up if I had two golf carts on one policy. So, I just figured if I just get rid of it. I've never been arrested in my Yeah, let's go back to Okay. What we got here? Under Berkemer versus McCarty, Miranda warnings aren't required during initial non-custodial interviews. The subject freely spoke with the officer unaware that each detail would become evidence against him. Notice the mounting inconsistencies. Valuable items untouched, no forced entry, unlocked interior access. The critical moment arrives when financial motive emerges. Concern about insurance premiums for two golf carts. This transforms reasonable suspicion under Terry v. Ohio into probable cause for further investigation. The officer located the golf cart at a storage facility establishing the false report. Upon return, the encounter shifts from consensual to custodial under Oregon v. Mathiason. Hello. How you doing? I'm already just going to tell you that. I'm required to warn you before you make any statements. You have the following constitutional rights. You have the right to remain silent and not answer any questions. Any statements can be must be freely and voluntarily given. You have the right to the presence and representation of a lawyer or judge before you make any statements and any questions. If you're not afforded a lawyer, you're entitled to the presence and representation of a court-appointed lawyer before you make any statements and during any questioning. If at any time during the interview you do not wish to answer any questions, you're privileged to remain silent. I can make no threats or promises to induce you to make any statements as you don't feel well. Any statements can will be used against you in a court of law and you have your rights. Those rights have been read to you. Do you want to speak to me? Yes or no? Yes. Yeah. Run me from when you a couple hours before you had the idea of putting it in there. Like what made you decide you were going to do this? Like from you put it what there? Wednesday night? Tuesday night? Today is Friday. Yesterday was Thursday. The day before was Wednesday. Wednesday probably. Wednesday night. Okay. From there to now. Um honestly, just I put it all in my office and then I just I just like This is the quickest way to get rid of this. Get it off the insurance and just say goodbye and get rid of this. Why'd you take your license plate? Cuz I was going to buy a new one. And use that license But with what money were you going to What's that? What money were you going use the money that you would get from the insurance? Cuz if it has insurance on it, it has theft. So, if you If it gets stolen I genuinely have no idea if it has theft. But when we were over there, you said that if I find it, my insurance and you guys would know it. We'll be the first ones to know if I find Well, Call my insurance company? You were going to call your insurance after I left and say, "Hey, my golf cart got stolen." Is that your plan? Is that part of your plan? No, I just wanted to get it off of my thing. I'm I'm sorry. What What do you I'm sorry. Listen, my question. So, I'm so caught up on going to jail right now. I'm so sorry. After when you fill out the paperwork and I was leaving, what you said if I find it, you and my insurance will be the first ones to know that Yeah, cuz I was going to insure a new one. I was literally going to go tomorrow and buy one. I just wanted it off my insurance. Put your hands behind your back. Okay. You're being placed under arrest for false reporting to police. Okay? You got it, son? You want to leave your watch and everything in your house? I'm going to let your wife know. Uh okay. You want to do that? I'd rather me do it. No, you can take it with you. Whatever is easier. Whatever you want to do. Whatever you want to do. You're going to get it back, but Okay. Can you tell me how the rest of the process plays out? Yeah, yeah, this is good. I can leave I'll stay as is. Face the car. Spread your feet. Yeah. Can I give that to my wife? Your phone? Yeah. You want to give your phone, but not your your watch and all that stuff? But you can I just thought it would be too hard to take my watch off, man. That's all. Just do whatever you want. I I just don't know if I'm allowed to have my phone or not. That's all. I mean, you're not going to have it in the cell, but they'll give it to you anyway. You're going to get out. You're not going to be up here. You want to take it or you want to leave it? I Whatever's easy. I've never done I don't know, man. Make a choice. Um I'll take it. I'll I'll take it. The officer delivers a textbook Miranda advisement reading verbatim from his card. Miranda v. Arizona requires right to silence, right to counsel, warning statements can be used in court. The subject voluntarily waves these rights and provides a complete confession. Under Rhode Island versus Innis, the questioning constitutes permissible interrogation without coercion. The confession reveals all elements. Staged theft Wednesday night, false report Friday, intent to defraud insurance. False police reports criminalize knowingly reporting crimes that didn't occur. Insurance fraud requires presenting false claims with intent to obtain illegitimate payment. The arrest is supported by probable cause under the Fourth Amendment, confession plus physical evidence. Officer Nick receives grade A for methodical investigation and constitutional compliance. The subject receives grade F for multiple criminal violations and flawed execution. The department earns grade A- for evident training quality and professional standards. Key lessons: Insurance fraud detection relies on identifying logical inconsistencies. Proper Miranda administration protects both constitutional rights and evidence admissibility. Patient, strategic questioning often produces voluntary confessions without coercion. Professional conduct during arrest maintains dignity while enforcing accountability. Body cam documentation creates ironclad evidence preserving every critical moment. Let us know what interactions or legal topics you'd like us to analyze in the comments below. Thank you for watching and check out our second channel, Street Law, for more content.