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For
Immediate Release: |
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For
Further Information Contact: |
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August
26, 2005
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Office
of The Attorney General
-
Peter C. Harvey,
Attorney General
Division
of Criminal Justice
- Vaughn L. McKoy, Director
Office
of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
- Greta Gooden Brown, Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor
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John
R. Hagerty
609-984-1936
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Prison
Inmate Sentenced to Concurrent 4-Year Term
after Pleading Guilty to $4,200 Insurance
Fraud |
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TRENTON
- Division of Criminal Justice Director
Vaughn L. McKoy announced that a Bayside
Prison inmate has been sentenced to a
concurrent four-year sentence after pleading
guilty to insurance fraud for his role
in submitting a phony $4,200 auto insurance
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) claim.
According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Greta Gooden, Tommy L. Edwards, 46, an
inmate in Bayside State Prison, Cumberland
County, formerly of West 17th Street,
Linden, Union County, pleaded guilty before
Union County Superior Court Judge John
S. Triarsi to a criminal Accusation filed
by the Division of Criminal Justice -
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor which
charged Insurance Fraud. Edwards was subsequently
sentenced to four years in state prison
to run concurrent with his current sentence.
At the guilty plea hearing, Edwards admitted
that in July 2003, he presented a fraudulent
Elizabeth Police Department accident report
to a law firm in Edison, Middlesex County,
stating that he had been involved in a
motor vehicle accident the previous month.
Edwards was treated at Pace Chiropractic
in Elizabeth, Union County, where he signed
a PIP Application and Affidavit of no
insurance. Signing the application enabled
Edwards to file for more than $4,200 in
medical reimbursements. An investigation
by the Division of Criminal Justice -
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor determined
that the police accident report had been
altered and that the accident had in fact
occurred in April, 2002. The investigation
further determined that Edwards had previously
received $4,500 in a civil settlement
for the 2002 accident in which he was
a pedestrian.
State Investigator Frank Cignarella, Civil
Investigator Joseph Burro, and Deputy
Attorney General Walter Krako were assigned
to the investigation. DAG Krako represented
the Division of Criminal Justice -Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the guilty
plea hearing. The investigation was referred
to the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
by AIG Insurance Company after it denied
the claim.
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