| |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
| For
Immediate Release: |
|
For
Further Information Contact: |
|
| September
9, 2005 |
| Office
of The Attorney General
-
Peter C. Harvey,
Attorney General
Division
of Criminal Justice
- Vaughn L. McKoy, Director
Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
- Greta Gooden Brown, Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor
|
|
|
|
Rachel
Sacharow
609-984-1936
|
|
| |
|
|
Former
Union County Insurance Company Employee
Sentenced to County Jail after Pleading
Guilty to $19,000 Insurance Fraud |
|
TRENTON
- Division of Criminal Justice Director
Vaughn L. McKoy announced that a State Farm
Insurance Company employee has been sentenced
to county jail and was made responsible
for paying more $19,300 after pleading guilty
to creating fraudulent insurance claim checks.
According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Greta Gooden Brown, Lola Ruth Byrd, 38,
Elmwood Place, Plainfield, Union County,
was ordered by Union County Superior Court
Judge John S. Triarsi to serve 220 days
in county jail, followed by three years
probation and to pay $2,500 in restitution.
In addition, Byrd signed a Consent Judgement
ordering her to repay more than $19,300.
The sentence was pursuant to Byrd=s Feb.
14 guilty plea to theft by deception.
At the guilty plea hearing in front of Judge
Triarsi, Byrd, a State Farms Insurance Company
claims service assistant, admitted that
between Dec. 19, 2001 and Feb. 15, 2002,
while employed in the company’s Cranford
Fire Insurance Division, she generated ten
State Farm Insurance drafts payable to another
person, Sherman McNeil. According to the
March 31, 2004 indictment, McNeil had no
connection to any of the old property loss
files that Byrd accessed to create the phony
claims checks. An investigation by the Division
of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor determined that Byrd would
access closed claims files, create fraudulent
insurance claims checks as if McNeil had
sustained property losses and was entitled
to insurance claim money, and then immediately
close the claims files. The investigation
further determined that, in addition to
her computer terminal, Byrd would generate
the false claims on a co-worker’s
computer terminal and also the main switchboard
terminal.
State Investigator Janet Wustefeld, Civil
Investigator Andre Mitchell, and Deputy
Attorney General Nicholas Vasile were assigned
to the investigation. DAG Vasile represented
the Division of Criminal Justice - Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the Sept.
2 sentencing. The investigation was referred
to the Division of Criminal Justice - Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor by State Farm.
# # #
_ag-ph_update.gif) |
Subscribe
here to receive the Attorney
General's Weekly Update via
e-mail |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
