Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
David Samson, Attorney General
Peter C. Harvey, Director, Division of Criminal Justice
Greta Gooden Brown, Insurance Fraud Prosecutor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Paul Loriquet (609) 292-4791

July 22, 2002

TRENTON - Attorney General David Samson announced that a Perth Amboy woman was sentenced today to 100 days in County jail for fraudulently collecting approximately $25,000 in Social Security disability insurance benefits.

According to Peter C. Harvey, First Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Division of Criminal Justice, Zena Lecoff, also known as Zena Lecoff-Walker, 39, of Market Street in Perth Amboy, was sentenced to five years probation conditioned upon serving 100 days in County jail following her guilty plea to a State Grand Jury indictment. Additionally, she was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $23,917 to the Social Security Administration and required to pay a total of $750 in criminal fines. The indictment was obtained by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor on February 26, 2002, and it charged her with third degree theft by deception and fourth degree falsifying or tampering with records.

At her guilty plea hearing on May 28, 2002, before Judge Phillip Lewis Paley in Superior Court, Middlesex County, Lecoff-Walker admitted that between 1996 and 2000, she fraudulently obtained Social Security benefits totaling approximately $25,000. Lecoff-Walker admitted that she falsified records certifying that she was unemployed and receiving no income when, in fact, she was actually working and receiving an income and not entitled to Social Security disability benefits. In order to continue receiving Social Security disability insurance benefits, Lecoff-Walker admitted that she falsified the Social Security Administration Continuing Disability Interview Form.

Lecoff-Walker pleaded guilty to an indictment filed by the Division of Criminal Justice’s Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) which investigates and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance fraud related cases.

The investigation was conducted by the OIFP in conjunction with the Cooperative Disability Investigations Unit (CDIU) which includes the Division of Criminal Justice, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and the New Jersey Department of Labor’s Division of Disability Determination Services. State Investigator John Neggia and Deputy Attorney General Sheri Tanne were in charge of the investigation. DAG Tanne presented the case to the State Grand Jury.

"This office continues to investigate cases alleging theft from disability insurance programs, including private insurance and government sponsored plans such as Social Security. The bottom line is this - working and earning income while collecting disability insurance is theft and the crime will be investigated and prosecuted," said Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown.

Edward J. Ryan, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Investigations for the Social Security Administration, New York Field Division, praised the investigative efforts of the CDIU and the cooperative spirit of the federal and state agencies in fighting disability fraud.

"Although most people who file disability claims are truly disabled, the small amount of people who file false claims take money out of a system that is intended to help those who genuinely deserve benefits. The CDIU will continue to investigate allegations of fraudulent disability claims in an effort to crackdown on disability fraud in private and government sponsored disability insurance programs," Ryan said.

Noting that some important cases have begun with anonymous tips from the public, Prosecutor Brown encouraged New Jersey residents concerned about insurance cheating and who have information about insurance fraud to contact the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor toll-free hotline at 1-877-55-FRAUD, or visit the Division’s web site at www.NJInsurancefraud.org .

Housed in the Department of Law and Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Justice and reporting to the Attorney General, the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor was established by the Automobile Insurance Cost Reduction Act of 1998 (AICRA). The Office is the centralized state agency that investigates and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance fraud, as well as Medicaid fraud. Criminal convictions for insurance fraud can result in fines and imprisonment, while civil penalties can include substantial fines and referral for revocation or suspension of professional licenses.