Have you ever seen the Kia car commercials with the dancing hamsters? They look pretty innocent, but that is the exact opposite! One of those hamsters is actually a fraud!
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According to California Department of Insurance, Leroy Barnes was arrested on insurance fraud charges related to the fraudulent collection of his insurance benefits. Barnes is best known for his role as a dancing hamster for the Kia car company. He is also part of the rap group Rej3ctz, has assisted with a song recording, and has performed as a backup dancer for Madonna and many others. All while he was claiming disability!
In 2010, Barnes was employed as a dancer when a piece of ceiling collapsed on him, rendering his dance career useless, or so he claimed! From 2010 to 2011, Barnes was receiving California state disability insurance totaling more than $51,000 and claiming that he could not work. But detectives soon learned that that dancing hamster was actually working the whole time! After doing a little digging, detectives discovered that Barnes was actually working as the hamster, performing in his rap group under the name MoWii, and dancing behind big name artists under the alias Hypnosis!
It turns out dancing hamsters aren’t as cute and cuddly as we once thought!