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TRENTON
- Acting Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that a former State of New Jersey
employee has pleaded guilty to stealing
temporary disability benefits.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Dennis Massimo, 66, of Princeton,
pleaded guilty today before Superior Court
Judge Maria Sypek of Mercer County to a
criminal accusation that charged him with
third-degree theft by deception.
At the plea hearing, Massimo, a former employee
of the New Jersey Department of Banking
and Insurance, admitted that between June
21 and Oct. 10, 2003, he wrongfully collected
temporary disability benefits from the state
Department of Labor while working as a general
contractor for the McGuire Auto Group. This
was in direct violation of the terms of
his disability benefits.
An
investigation determined that Massimo received
$432 per week in temporary disability insurance
payments, for a total of approximately $6,700
to which he was not entitled. Massimo was
paid approximately $123,704 as a general
contractor during the same period of time.
State
Investigator Eric Barnes was assisted in
the investigation by the Department of Banking
and Insurance. The case is being prosecuted
by Deputy Attorney General Stephen J. Cirillo.
Third-degree
crimes carry sentences of up to five years
in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.
Prosecutor
Brown noted that some important cases have
started with anonymous tips. People who
are concerned about insurance cheating and
have information about a fraud can report
it anonymously by calling the toll-free
hotline 1-877-55-FRAUD or
visiting www.NJInsuranceFraud.org.
State regulations permit an award to be
paid to an eligible person who provides
information that leads to an arrest, prosecution
and conviction for insurance fraud.
The
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor was
established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998. The office is
the centralized state agency that investigates
and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance
fraud, as well as Medicaid fraud.
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