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TRENTON
- Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Division
of Criminal Justice Director Gregory A.
Paw announced that a former Camden police
officer was sentenced to prison today for
his role in an automobile insurance fraud
scam.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Jerome Bollettieri, 44, of Oaklyn,
was sentenced to four years in state prison
by Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Brown
Jr. in Camden County. He is permanently
barred from holding public office in New
Jersey.
On
Aug. 11, 2006, Bollettieri was convicted
after a four-day bench trial before Judge
Brown of all five counts in a state grand
jury indictment returned on March 27, 2002,
namely conspiracy, official misconduct,
two counts of bribery, all in the second
degree, and one count of third-degree criminal
use of runners. Judge Brown found that Bollettieri,
while assigned to Camden’s traffic
bureau, sold police accident reports to
retired Camden police officer Thomas DiPatri.
DiPatri delivered the illegally obtained
accident reports to American Spinal Care,
Inc., a chiropractic facility on Haddon
Avenue in Collingswood, so that “runners”
for the facility could illegally solicit
individuals listed in the reports as clients
for treatment and the filing of insurance
claims.
“This
defendant is going to prison because he
broke the laws he swore to uphold, selling
information he obtained as a police officer
in order to exploit accident victims,”
said Attorney General Rabner.
Previously,
as a result of the investigation by the
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, DiPatri
was found guilty at trial of working with
Bollettieri in the scam and sentenced to
three years in state prison. In addition,
Charles Warrington, an officer of American
Spinal Care, and Ettore Carchia, a chiropractor
employed at the facility, pleaded guilty
for their roles in the scheme. Warrington
was sentenced to three years in state prison,
and Carchia was sentenced to probation and
ordered to surrender his chiropractic license.
Bollettieri
and DiPatri were arrested on the criminal
charges in October 2000 by Division of Criminal
Justice investigators and representatives
from the New Jersey State Police and the
Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
Bollettieri was suspended from the Camden
Police Department the day of his arrest.
State
Investigators Scott Stevens, Weldon Powell
and Andrea Hayes were assigned to the investigation,
along with Deputy Attorney General Peter
Lee. Deputy Attorney General Christine Hoffman
represented the state at trial and at the
sentencing, with assistance from State Investigators
Anthony Butler and Natalie Brotherston.
“Our
office is committed to combating insurance
fraud in any form it takes,” said
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown. “It is particularly disturbing
when police officers engage in these crimes.”
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 the Web at 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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