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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a Newark woman was sentenced today
for filing false insurance claims in connection
with a bus accident.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Sharonda Thomas, 33, of Newark, was
ordered by Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent
Ahto in Morris County to serve 18 months
probation and to perform 180 hours of community
service. The sentence is pursuant to Thomas’s
guilty plea to health care claims fraud.
At
the Feb. 19 guilty plea hearing before Judge
Ahto, Thomas admitted that she fraudulently
caused insurance claims worth a total of
$5,150 to be submitted on her behalf for
health benefits to which she was not entitled.
Thomas falsely claimed to have struck her
head on a glass partition of the bus when
the door of a parked car was opened and
the bus struck the door as it was traveling
down a street in Newark. An investigation
determined that Thomas had not struck her
head and, in fact, suffered no injuries
as a result of the accident. The Special
Investigative Unit of Discover Re denied
the claims and referred the case to the
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.
State
Investigator Laura Parisi, State Investigator
Amy Carson and Deputy Attorney General Cheryl
A. Maccaroni were assigned to the investigation.
Maccaroni represented the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing. Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor Brown thanks Discover Re
for their assistance in this matter, as
well as Coach USA, Sedgwick CMS and MJM
Investigations Inc.
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