|
TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that an Essex County chiropractor was sentenced
today for attempted theft in connection
with an insurance fraud scheme.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Samuel Sbarra, 49, of Nutley, was
ordered by Superior Court Judge Donald J.
Volkert, Jr. in Essex County to serve one
year probation and serve 25 hours of community
service. The sentence was pursuant to Sbarra’s
Sept. 26 guilty plea to a criminal accusation
charging him with attempted theft by deception.
Sbarra,
a chiropractor licensed in New Jersey, admitted
that between Nov. 2 and Nov. 18, 2005, he
submitted a phony claim to the Chubb Insurance
Company reflecting that he had provided
18 dates of chiropractic services for a
total of $1,844. Chubb Insurance denied
the claim and referred the matter to the
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.
State
Investigator Lisa Shea, Civil Investigator
Errol R. English, and Deputy Attorneys General
Stephen J. Cirillo and James Flanagan were
assigned to the investigation. Flanagan
represented the Office of Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor at the sentencing.
The
Special Investigative Unit of the Chubb
Insurance Company assisted OIFP in the investigation.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Brown thanks
Chubb for their involvement in this matter.
"When
health care providers commit fraud it is
particularly disturbing, because the integrity
of the health care insurance claims process
depends on the trustworthiness of the licensed
professionals involved,” Fraud Prosecutor
Brown said. “The Office of the Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor will continue to vigorously
investigate and prosecute this type of criminal
activity."
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.
# # # |
