News
Va. athlete fakes disability to steal policy $
May 08, 2008, Richmond, VA -- A triathlete who pretended to be a wheelchair-dependent accident victim to receive state aid and collect an insurance policy has been convicted of 2 fraud charges.
A Henrico County Circuit Court judge convicted 33-year-old Samuel Aaron Brabson Tuesday of intent to commit larceny by fraud for trying to cash a $1.3 million accident insurance policy and fraud for receiving $100,000 in attendant care and equipment from the state Department of Rehabilitative Services.
Testimony over his 4-day trial showed Brabson as an athlete who wooed women with mountain hikes and competed in a triathlon at the same time he told caregivers he could
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N.Y. woman claims to live in another state to save on ins.
May 08, 2008, Brooklyn, NY -- Lisa Jackson, 40, of Brooklyn, N.Y., has been ordered to pay $11,726 and is on probation for a year after pleading guilty to insurance fraud and theft by deception, according to court records.
Jackson filed forms in August 2005 with Laubscher Insurance Agency in Mount Pocono, stating she lived in Tobyhanna when she actually lives in New York City. She saved more than $1,600 a year in insurance, according to records.
An investigation led to her being charged late last year. She later pleaded guilty and was placed on the accelerated rehabilitative disposition (probation) program for first-time offenders.
Jackson also must pay $10,476
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Pa. woman allegedly uses health policy to cover ex-hubby
May 07, 2008, Auburndale, PA -- A former State Attorney Office's clerk who, according to investigators, allowed her health insurance to pay her ex-husband's medical bill has been charged with two counts of insurance fraud.
Kristie Derrick, 34, of Auburndale, was released Tuesday from the Polk County Jail on $2,000 bail. The charges are third-degree felonies.
Derrick was fired last year after being accused of falsifying insurance records by telling her insurer that she was still married.
Derrick and her then-husband, Ken Derrick, divorced in 2001. She was hired by the State Attorney's Office in July 2006.
According to an arrest affidavit filed by the State Attorney's Office, Ken Derrick
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N.Y. arson case dismissed for lack of evidence
May 07, 2008, Oneida, NY -- Jeffrey Truman Sr. walked out of Madison County Court on Tuesday morning smiling.
"I want to get back and spend some time with my family. I'm going to start my life over again," he said.
Just minutes earlier, Judge Biagio DiStefano had dismissed arson, conspiracy and insurance fraud charges against the Oneida man.
Truman Sr., 50, was accused of plotting to set the Nov. 12, 2006, fire that destroyed the former Stanton Paper Box Co. at 106 N. Warner St., Oneida. His son, Jeffrey Truman Jr., admitted setting the fire but said his father told him to do it.
DiStefano, who dismissed three other
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Ex-Philly cop forges name to insurance check
May 06, 2008, Bensalem, PA -- A former Falls police officer who was convicted in March of forging his estranged wife’s name on a $5,000 insurance settlement check was sentenced Monday to five years of probation.
Matthew Shade, 29, of Bensalem apologized during a hearing in county court in Doylestown.
“I’m sorry for what happened,” he told Bucks County Judge Albert Cepparulo. “Believe me, you won’t see me again.”
Shade, a four-year veteran of the Falls force and a former Philadelphia cop, was found guilty of forgery and theft following a nonjury trial. Cepparulo found that Shade
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Mass. man claims he’s two people in crash scheme
May 05, 2008, Lawrence, NH -- It's impossible to be in more than one place at a time.
But investigators of the city's auto insurance fraud task force say Ernies Baez tried to pull it off as a driver in one car and a passenger in another — in a staged two-car crash in Lawrence back in an August 2003.
"It's just amazing because he almost got away with it, too," Lawrence police Chief John Romero said.
"For four years, this fraud went unprosecuted. With the more than 300 people we've charged, we pretty much thought we'd seen it all," he said. "But this one really turned out to
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Calif. broker sells false auto coverage
May 05, 2008, Newport Beach, CA -- A former Newport Beach, Calif., insurance broker has been sentenced to several years in prison for insurance fraud, according to the California Department of Insurance.
CDI stated that Thomas Joseph Doino, 43 pled guilty to 11 felony counts in Orange County Superior Court on April 29. He operated Garden Grove-based Insurance Services & Resources. The case was built by the California Department of Insurance, Investigations Division (CDI) and the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Doino's guilty plea included six counts of grand theft and five counts of acts constituting forgery. He was sentenced to four years in state prison on four of
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Md. man bilks Medicaid with fake transport
May 05, 2008, Temple Hills, MD -- A former Medicaid provider, Leonard H. Young, has been sentenced to prison for billing Medicaid for over $211,000 worth of services that he did not provide, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Patrick Doyle, Regional Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, announced today.
Young, 57, of Temple Hills, Maryland, pled guilty on October 30, 2007, and was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Richard J. Leon on one count
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Two W.Va. men sentenced for role in staged accidents
May 02, 2008, Panther, WV -- West Virginia officials sentenced two McDowell County men after charging them with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, according to West Virginia Insurance Commissioner, Jane L. Cline.
Cline said Harold Patrick Estep, 29, and Brian Keith Estep, 25, both of Panther, W. Va., pleaded guilty on February 16, 2007, to one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and were sentenced on April 29.
The court sentenced Harold Estep to one year in a regional jail for his role in staged auto accidents, and then suspended the sentence and ordered him to complete 10 consecutive weekends of jail time, Cline said. At
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New Zealand man fakes death for insurance money
May 02, 2008, New Zealand, -- The two former wives of a man who faked his own death, sparking a $1 million insurance payout, want nothing to do with him as he caused "so much pain".
The man, who cannot be named because of strict suppression orders, yesterday in the Christchurch District Court admitted three charges of dishonestly using documents and two of false pretences.
The man disappeared in 2002 from Port Waikato, south of Auckland, and was presumed dead. Instead, the father of three children from two marriages had staged his disappearance, assumed another identity and moved to Christchurch.
The man took out an insurance policy worth more
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UK woman caught working while receiving benefits
May 01, 2008, Huyton, Knowsley, U.K., -- A woman who claimed to be so severely disabled she needed help feeding herself but worked as a dinner lady has been given a suspended jail term.
Kim Toner, 49, from Huyton, Knowsley, was caught on camera by benefit fraud investigators preparing food for over 400 schoolchildren.
Toner had received a Motability car and over £80,000 in benefits.
The judge at Liverpool Crown Court ordered her to repay the cash and gave her an 18-month suspended sentence.
She was also ordered to undertake 300 hours unpaid work in the community and was made the subject of a six-month curfew which means she has to
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N.Y. man is questioned about an insurance scam
May 01, 2008, West Brighton, NY -- A West Brighton man on his way to be interrogated about a car insurance scheme ended up landing himself and his roommate behind bars on more serious charges from a year-old gun warrant, according to police.
Cops say the insurance scheme took off in the early-morning hours of March 23, after Jabeza Ganesh, 25, and his girlfriend, Carmela Distefano, got into a car crash with another vehicle on the Staten Island Expressway.
The two left the scene and decided to report the car, a Mazda 6, stolen, according to court papers.
Ganesh ditched the car at a campground on the 1400 block of
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Ark. MLK official implicated in crash ring
April 30, 2008, Little Rock, AK -- The executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission made misrepresentations on five accident claims from 1996 through 2000, the State Department of Insurance has said.
The claims are in a Pulaski County Circuit Court case in which Little Rock cousins Mark Anthony Watson and Fredrick Odell “Rick” Watson are accused of running a car-insurance fraud ring for almost 12 years. Their trial is scheduled to begin July 29.
A prosecuting attorney for the Department of Insurance filed the charges against the Watsons.
King Commission Executive Director DuShun Scarbrough has not been charged with a crime, said Julie Bowman, the state’s insurance
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Philly man accused of blowing up home for insurance $
April 30, 2008, Bensalem, PA -- A former Bensalem man accused of blowing up his home for the insurance money waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday. The case against Robert Shecter, 73, Trumbauersville, is heading to trial in Doylestown next month.
He is charged with arson to collect insurance and reckless endangerment.
Shecter's Cape Cod-style home at 3756 Knights Road exploded early in the morning of Jan. 30, 2005. Shecter and his son were in Quakertown at the time. His wife was in Long Island, N.Y., visiting her mother, authorities said at the time.
Shecter was convicted earlier this year of scamming two elderly couples out of
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Mo. man bilks seniors out of health coverage
April 30, 2008, Kansas City, MO -- Selling senior citizens insurance benefits they did not receive
Darin R. Noah, 41, Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced Monday to 78 months in federal prison for selling senior citizens insurance benefits they did not receive. He was also ordered to make restitution to 26 victims in the amount of $857,724.82.
In November, Noah pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
"Mr. Noah targeted the elderly and infirm," said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren. "They paid him for long term health care insurance. In some cases, he never purchased the policies. In other cases, he bought a policy for one year and then stole
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Ind. man shoots girlfriend, allegedly lies to get treatment
April 30, 2008, Anderson, IA -- Madison County prosecutors have charged an Anderson man with insurance fraud, claiming he bilked an insurance company out of thousands of dollars in medical expenses after he accidentally shot his girlfriend.
Bernard R. Fogle, 57, was arrested shortly after noon Tuesday at the Madison County Jail on a single charge of insurance fraud, a Class C felony punishable by two to eight years behind bars, if convicted. He was released about three hours later after posting bond.
An initial court appearance for Fogle has not yet been scheduled, and it wasn’t immediately known if has hired an attorney.
According to the probable cause
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Md. transit officer receives 5 years for auto arson
April 29, 2008, Randallstown, MD -- A Maryland Transit Administration police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison in a car insurance scheme.
James Walthall, 41, of Randallstown pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in February.
Federal prosecutors said he arranged to burn a vehicle he owned and two vehicles owned by other MTA employees to avoid repossession and use the insurance for the outstanding loan balance.
MTA bus driver Lucretia Westbrook and MTA officer Ronald Lurz have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
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Calif. man arrested for bogus arson claim
April 29, 2008, Desert Hot Springs, CA -- A Desert Hot Springs, Calif., resident was arrested for allegedly defrauding his insurance company of $26,000, the California Department of Insurance reported. Robert Andrew Nelson, 44, was arrested in Cathedral City, Calif., on April 28 on charges of filing a false police report and knowingly presenting a fraudulent insurance claim.
CDI said n Oct. 28, 2007, Nelson reported that his 2005 Expedition was stolen from his driveway in the middle of the night, wrecked, and returned to his driveway. Nelson claimed that he hosted a gathering of about a dozen acquaintances at his home and went to bed at 8 p.m.
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Ohio therapist practices 6 years without license
April 29, 2008, Cincinnati, OH -- Michael Stinson began calling himself a "physical therapist" six years ago when he founded a Loveland business that catered to injured workers.
The new title paid off big when Stinson collected more than $2 million in fees.
The problem, federal prosecutors say, is that Stinson isn't a physical therapist, didn't get a license to run his business and failed to report his earnings to the IRS.
The government now wants the money back and Stinson faces up to 20 years in prison. He signed a plea agreement in U.S. District Court last week admitting he misled his clients and the government.
Prosecutors say the
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NJ school officials charged with torching car for insurance
April 29, 2008, Newark, NJ -- A Newark guidance counselor and a Red Bank middle school principal were charged yesterday with torching the principal's leased car in an alleged insurance fraud scheme.
Kenyatta O'Bryant, 36, who holds a doctorate in counseling and works at the Vailsburg Middle School in Newark, was charged with Terrence Wilkins, 34, principal of the Red Bank Middle School in an indictment unsealed by Essex County prosecutors.
O'Bryant, who also works as an adjunct instructor at Essex County College and Union County College, was released on $25,000 bail after appearing before Superior Court Judge Harold Fullilove in Newark.
Wilkins, a former "educator of the year"
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Conn. suspects arrested for hatching an auto arson scheme
April 28, 2008, New Milford, CT -- The final two suspects in an insurance fraud scheme allegedly hatched by a Norwalk funeral director are scheduled to appear next week in Bantam Superior Court.
The arrests of a Goshen woman and a Torrington man bring to four the number of people charged as a result of the investigation, which began after a 2005 Cadillac leased by 31-year-old Daniel Turocy of Norwalk was found burning at Rooster Tail Hollow and River roads in October.
Police said that Turocy, who was arrested in February, arranged to have the car stolen to avoid paying several thousand dollars in mileage penalties. His case is
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Pittsburgh pharmacist sentenced to 5 years for ins. claims
April 26, 2008, Coraopolis, PA -- A former Crafton pharmacist who illegally sold prescription painkillers over the Internet and made bogus claims for HIV/AIDS drugs was sentenced Friday to nearly five years in federal prison.
Anthony Grejda, 46, of Peters was given 57 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2.4 million in restitution.
Grejda pleaded guilty in June to health care fraud, conspiracy and illegal distribution of hydrocodone over the Internet. He did not speak during the hearing.
Prosecutors said Grejda filed false reimbursement claims from 1998 to 2002 for HIV/AIDS drugs never dispensed by his business, TDI Pharmacy. Grejda was accused of bilking Highmark and Medicaid
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$100 million stolen from U.S. military health program
April 25, 2008, Madison, WI -- A federal judge on Thursday ordered a Philippines company to pay back $100 million it swindled from the U.S. military's health insurance program.
Health Visions Corp., which pleaded guilty to mail fraud, was ordered to liquidate all assets within 10 months and give the proceeds to the U.S. government.
Federal prosecutors say the company bilked the military's Tricare program out of $99.9 million between 1998 and 2004. The program insures 9.2 million current and retired servicemen and dependents worldwide.
The company routinely inflated claims by more than 230 percent, operated a phony insurance program and billed for medical services never delivered, court records
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Mass. man accused of staging crashes
April 24, 2008, Dorchester, MA -- A former Dorchester man has been indicted on federal charges that he staged multiple auto accidents and operated fraudulent physical therapy clinics in Boston and other cities that were used to treat people for what often turned out to be fake injuries.
Tu Quy Mai, 57, who now resides in North Charleston, S.C., faces 54 counts of mail fraud in US District Court in Boston in allegedly mailing false insurance claims and related documents. He ran physical therapy clinics in Dorchester, West Roxbury, Brockton, Quincy, and Worcester between 2000 and 2006, according to the indictment.
Although he was arrested last week in
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Pa. couple charged with inflated accident claims
April 24, 2008, McKeesport, PA -- A McKeesport couple were arrested yesterday and charged with defrauding insurance companies of $69,000 in inflated accident claims.
Willie Ballard, 44, and Estela Perez, 31, have been charged with five counts of insurance fraud, three counts of theft by deception and criminal conspiracy.
An investigation by the state attorney general's insurance fraud section revealed that the couple submitted claims for 11 accidents and sometimes more than one claim for the same accident.
The couple reported accidents in which one of them ran a vehicle into a parked car, stairs, a utility pole and trees, including one on their driveway, according to the attorney
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