Office of The Attorney General
- Stuart Rabner, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
- Gregory A. Paw, Director
Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
- Greta Gooden Brown, Insurance Fraud Prosecutor

According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Marco Rebelo, 33, of Avenel, the owner and operator of Creative Auto Body at 409 East 1st Avenue in Roselle, was sentenced to four years in state prison by Superior Court Judge James C. Heimlich in Union County. Rebelo also was ordered to pay restitution of $94,205, and he signed a civil consent order to pay an additional $105,000. Rebelo was sentenced pursuant to his March 12 guilty plea to a criminal accusation which charged him with second-degree conspiracy and theft by deception.

Five of Rebelo’s co-defendants also pleaded guilty on March 12 to participating in the scheme. Four were sentenced by Judge Heimlich on April 27 as follows:

• Eli Vasquez, 34, was sentenced to five years in prison and was ordered to pay restitution to insurance companies totaling $53,591. He also signed a consent order to pay a civil penalty of $25,000. Vasquez, currently incarcerated at Bayside State Prison, pleaded guilty to second degree conspiracy, three counts of third-degree theft by deception, and one count of third-degree attempted theft by deception.
• Danny DaCosta, 26, of Elizabeth, was sentenced to one year probation and ordered to pay restitution to insurance companies totaling $23,919. He also signed a consent order to pay a civil penalty of $5,000. DaCosta pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree theft by deception.
• Rogerio Neves, 37, of Elizabeth, was sentenced to one year probation. He signed a consent order to pay a civil penalty of $5,000. Neves pleaded guilty to third-degree attempted theft by deception.
• Rui Correia, 27, of Elizabeth, was sentenced to one year probation. He signed a consent order to pay a civil penalty of $5,000. Correia pleaded guilty to third-degree attempted theft by deception.

The fifth co-defendant who pleaded guilty on March 12, Charles T. Smith, 36, of Willingboro, was admitted into the pre-trial intervention program on April 18.

At the guilty plea hearing on March 12, the defendants admitted to their roles in a conspiracy to report seven staged or fictitious car accidents between March 2001 and March 2003 and file more than $117,800 in fraudulent automobile insurance property damage claims based on those phony accidents. The defendants admitted that they provided false information for police accident reports from the Roselle and Plainfield Police Departments that were used to support the accident claims. Claims were filed with Progressive Insurance Company, Great American Insurance Company, Clarendon National Insurance Company, State Farm Insurance Company and the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Approximately $94,200 was paid by the insurance companies.

Two former police officers also have pleaded guilty as a result of this investigation. Samad Abdel, 42, of Roselle, pleaded guilty on Dec. 18 to two counts of third-degree official misconduct. He was sentenced on May 25 to one year of probation and ordered by Judge Heimlich to give up his employment as a detective with the Plainfield Police Department. He further was ordered to pay a $5,000 civil insurance fraud fine and to be permanently barred from any future law enforcement or public employment. John A. Smith, 37, a former Roselle police officer, pleaded guilty April 16 before Judge Heimlich to third-degree official misconduct. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 15. Both officers admitted to filing a false police report or reports so that fraudulent insurance claims could be submitted.

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. were assigned to the investigation. Egan represented the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing.

“Staged car accidents are a particularly egregious form of insurance fraud because of the potential they present for injury or even death,” said Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Brown.“These sentences demonstrate our resolve to vigorously investigate and prosecute this type of crime.”

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 site 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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