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TRENTON
- Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a Paterson insurance agent was sentenced
today for stealing insurance premium money.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Herberto Zayas, 71, of Hamburg, was
sentenced to four years probation by Superior
Court Judge Ernest M. Caposela in Passaic
County. He also was ordered to pay restitution
of $5,039. Zayas was sentenced pursuant
to his guilty plea to a May 17, 2006 Passaic
County grand jury indictment which charged
him with theft by failure to make required
disposition of property.
At
the March 19 guilty plea hearing before
Judge Caposela, Zayas, who operated an insurance
agency located at 175 Market Street in Paterson,
admitted that between Oct. 16 and Nov. 13,
2003, he stole more than $5,000 in insurance
premium monies. Zayas admitted that he accepted
insurance premium money from a corporation
identified as W.K.L. Inc., which operated
a car wash in Plainfield, so that general
commercial liability and commercial property
damage/loss insurance could be purchased.
W.K.L paid Zayas the full policy premiums
but, without the victim’s knowledge,
Zayas failed to remit premium payments to
the insurer, causing the policies to be
canceled. The victim learned of the policy
cancellations when a claim was made.
State
Investigator Robert McGrath and Deputy Attorney
General Dennis Kwasnik were assigned to
the investigation. Kwasnik represented the
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at
the sentencing. The Department of Banking
and Insurance routinely assists the Office
of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor with the
investigation and prosecution of licensed
insurance agents.
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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