|
TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Acting
Division of Criminal Justice Director Deborah
Gramiccioni announced that a Burlington
County man pleaded guilty and was sentenced
today for his role in a motorcycle theft
ring.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Brett Weiss, 24, of Burlington City,
was ordered by Superior Court Judge James
J. Morley in Burlington County to serve
three years in state prison. The sentence
was pursuant to Weiss’s guilty plea
to a criminal accusation which charged him
with third-degree insurance fraud.
In pleading guilty today, Weiss admitted
that between Oct. 14, and Oct. 19, 2006,
he falsely represented to State Farm Insurance
that a 2006 Honda CBR 600 motorcycle had
been stolen. Weiss admitted that he made
the false representation so that a phony
theft claim could be submitted.
The
guilty plea is the result of an ongoing
investigation by the New Jersey State Police
and the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
into a ring of persons who were stealing
motorcycles, retagging them, selling them,
and sometimes submitting phony insurance
claims representing they had been stolen
from their owners when, in fact, they had
been given up by their owners.
A
motorcycle is retagged when a vehicle identification
number other than the number originally
assigned to the motorcycle by the manufacturer
is placed on the motorcycle to conceal the
fact that it was stolen. A motorcycle is
“given up” when its owner gives
it up to another person so that it can be
retagged and sold or otherwise used, and
so that a phony theft claim can be submitted
to an insurance company.
Detectives George Meyers, Jr. and Christina
Fiscella, and Deputy Attorney General Paul
D. Santangini were assigned to the investigation.
Deputy Attorney General Santangini represented
the state at the guilty plea hearing. Prosecutor
Brown thanked the New Jersey State Police
and State Farm Insurance Company for their
assistance in this matter.
# # # |
