TRENTON
- Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Division
of Criminal Justice Director Gregory A.
Paw announced that a police officer from
Union County has pleaded guilty to filing
false police reports as part of an insurance
fraud scheme involving an auto body shop
in Roselle.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Samad Abdel, 42, of Roselle, pleaded
guilty before Superior Court Judge James
C. Heimlich in Union County to two counts
of third-degree official misconduct, charges
contained in Dec. 6 state grand jury indictment.
Third-degree crimes carry sentences of up
to five years in state prison and a fine
of up to $15,000. Abdel may also face civil
insurance fraud fines.
At
the guilty plea hearing, Abdel, a Plainfield
police detective, admitted that he used
his role as an officer to write two false
police reports regarding automobile accidents
that he knew were staged or fictitious so
that the fraudulent insurance claims could
be submitted.
“We
have no tolerance for police officers who
break the laws they are sworn to uphold,’’
Attorney General Rabner said.
The
indictment to which Abdel pleaded guilty
charged that seven co-defendants reported
a total of seven staged or fictitious car
accidents between March 2001 and March 2003
and filed more than $117,800 in fraudulent
automobile insurance property damage claims
based on those phony accidents. The defendants
allegedly provided false information for
police accident reports to Abdel and John
A. Smith, a police officer with the Borough
of Roselle, which were used to substantiate
the auto accident insurance claims. The
charges against Smith and the other co-defendants
are pending.
Claims
were filed with Progressive Insurance Company,
Great American Insurance Company, Clarendon
National Insurance Company, State Farm Insurance
Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.
Approximately $94,200 was paid by the insurance
companies.
State Investigators Thomas Harrington and
Lisa Egan, Civil Investigators Raymond Britton,
Arthur Williams and Joseph Burro, Administrative
Analyst Christine Runkle and Deputy Attorney
General Joseph J. Egan Jr. handled the case.
Prosecutor Brown noted that people who have
information about a fraud can report it
anonymously by calling the toll-free hotline
1-877-55-FRAUD or visiting
the Web at www.njinsurancefraud.org.
A copy of the indictment is linked to this
press release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
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