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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Deborah Gramiccioni announced
that an Essex County man pleaded guilty
today to fraudulently reporting that his
son had died to collect on a life insurance
policy.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Anthony Myers Sr., 35, of Newark,
pleaded guilty today before Superior Court
Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in Morris County
to third-degree insurance fraud. The charge
was contained in an Aug. 1, 2007 indictment.
At
the guilty plea hearing, Myers admitted
that between March 21 and May 10, 2006,
he submitted a fraudulent insurance claim
to State Farm Insurance Company in an attempt
to collect on a life insurance policy to
which he was not entitled. Myers admitted
that he falsely claimed that his son, Anthony
Myers Jr., had died. An investigation determined
that Myers Jr. was not dead, but was alive
and living in North Carolina. In order to
substantiate his claim, Myers Sr. falsified
a claimant statement that he submitted to
State Farm Insurance Company.
State Investigator Joseph Wirzbicki, Civil
Investigator Joseph Dugan, and Deputy Attorney
General Susan Kase were assigned to the
investigation. Kase represented the Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the guilty
plea hearing.
This
case was referred to OIFP by the Special
Investigative Unit of the State Farm Insurance
Company which initially uncovered the fraud
and assisted OIFP in the investigation.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Brown thanks
the State Farm Insurance Company for their
involvement in this matter.
Myers
is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Ahto
on Jan.16, 2009. Pursuant to the plea agreement,
the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
will recommend a sentence of probation.
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