|
TRENTON
- Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a Morris County insurance agent has
been sentenced after pleading guilty to
stealing more than $44,000 in insurance
premiums from an insurance purchaser.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, William Kloss, 42, of Boonton, was
ordered by Superior Court Judge Salem V.
Ahto in Morris County to serve three years
probation and $44,864 in restitution. The
sentence was pursuant to Kloss’ March
8 guilty plea to a criminal accusation which
charged him with theft by failure to make
required disposition of property received.
Kloss was ordered to forfeit his insurance
license and perform 100 hours of community
service.
At
the guilty plea hearing before Judge Ahto,
Kloss, an insurance agent who operated Pringle,
Kloss & Associates, an insurance agency
in Morristown, admitted that he received
over $44,000 in insurance premium money
from a home repair business known as Complete
Roofing Systems. Instead of remitting Complete
Roofing Systems’ insurance premium
money to an insurance carrier for general
liability insurance, Kloss stole the money
and used it for his own purposes.
State
Investigator Robert Stemmer, and Deputy
Attorneys General Lewis J. Korngut and Dennis
Kwasnik were assigned to the investigation.
Kwasnik represented the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing. The
Department of Banking and Insurance assisted
the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
with the investigation and prosecution.
"It
is particularly troublesome when licensed
insurance agents engage in fraud,"
Prosecutor Brown said. "The public
places a great deal of trust in licensed
insurance agents and expects them to adhere
to high ethical standards. To do otherwise
constitutes a breach of the public trust.
This office will continue to investigate
and prosecute thefts by insurance agents
wherever appropriate."
#
# #
|
