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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that a Burlington County woman was sentenced
to state prison today for running a criminal
prescription drug ring and filing fraudulent
insurance claims.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Joyce Sarte Fuller, 63, of Mount
Laurel, was ordered by Superior Court Judge
James J. Morley in Burlington County to
serve 10 years in state prison and to pay
$648 in restitution to Amerihealth. Fuller
was also ordered to forfeit $3,090, which
was seized during the execution of a search
warrant at her former residence on May 17,
2004. The sentence was pursuant to Fuller’s
guilty plea to attempted theft by deception,
conspiracy to unlawfully sell controlled
dangerous substances, and possession with
intent to distribute controlled dangerous
substances. The charges were contained in
two separate state grand jury indictments
returned on June 11, 2007.
At
the July 3, 2008 guilty plea hearing, Fuller
admitted that between April 28, 2002 and
Aug. 26, 2003, she falsely reported to the
Mount Laurel Police Department that she
suffered a burglary at her home. Fuller
subsequently submitted a fraudulent “Itemized
Statement of Loss” to USAA Insurance
Company detailing items that were falsely
reported as stolen, including artwork, porcelain
figurines and other items. The purported
value of the items totaled $137,250.
Fuller
also admitted that between Dec. 1, 2002
and March 17, 2004, she stole prescription
pads from physicians’ offices. She
admitted that she wrote false prescriptions
for drugs, including controlled narcotic
substances, and obtained the drugs from
various pharmacies in and around the Mount
Laurel area. An investigation determined
that Fuller falsely submitted $648 in claims
to Amerihealth for reimbursement for the
drugs, knowing that she was not eligible
to be reimbursed. Fuller also admitted that
she sold more than an ounce of morphine.
Detective
Scott Caponi, Civil Investigator Bud Fifield,
and Deputy Attorneys General Lewis J. Korngut
and Ronald Epstein were assigned to the
investigation. Korngut represented the Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing.
The Mount Laurel and Moorestown Police Departments
and USAA Insurance Company assisted in the
investigation.
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