TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced
that a former Essex County insurance company
employee has been sentenced for her role in
a scheme to steal more than $94,100 through
fraudulent disability insurance claims. A
co-defendant was also sentenced.
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza
Dagli, LaShondrea Tucker, 32, of Plainfield,
was sentenced yesterday (Dec. 16) to five
years probation conditioned on her serving
364 days in county jail by Superior Court
Judge Michael A. Petrolle in Essex County.
Judge Petrolle also ordered Tucker to serve
250 hours of community service and to pay
$59,231 in restitution. The sentence is based
on Tucker’s Aug. 11 guilty plea to insurance
fraud, a charge contained in a Dec. 18, 2008
state grand jury indictment.
Also
yesterday, Judge Petrolle sentenced Tucker’s
co-defendant, Louise Fedrick, 40, of Newark,
to two years probation. Fedrick was also ordered
to serve 400 hours of community service. Fedrick
pleaded guilty in April to forgery. A third
co-defendant, Erick Streeter, 44, of Newark,
is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 13, 2010.
Streeter pleaded guilty in April to theft
by deception. All of the charges were contained
in the Dec. 18, 2008 state grand jury indictment.
In
pleading guilty, Tucker, who was employed
as a disability claims manager for Prudential
Insurance Company, admitted that between Sept.
22, 2003 and March 23, 2004, she created fraudulent
disability claims using the names and other
identifiers of actual people enrolled in a
teachers’ disability plan. Tucker admitted
that she diverted 21 checks and two electronic
fund transfers totaling over $94,100.
Tucker
admitted that she issued the diverted checks,
which totaled $66,700, in the names of the
insured individuals and sent them to Streeter.
Streeter engaged Fedrick to assist him with
the cashing of the claims checks. Fedrick
admitted to forging the signatures on the
checks for deposit.
The
investigation further revealed that Tucker
opened an Internet bank account with Net Bank.
Two electronic fund transfers in the approximate
amount of $27,400 were subsequently deposited
into the Net Bank account representing fraudulent
sick pay from Prudential Insurance Company.
Detective
Weldon Powell, Civil Investigator Robert Brescia
and Deputy Attorney General Joan M. Burke
were assigned to the investigation. Burke
prosecuted the case and represented the state
at sentencing. This case was referred to OIFP
by the Special Investigative Unit of the Prudential
Insurance Company which initially uncovered
the fraud and assisted OIFP in the investigation.
Acting Prosecutor Dagli thanked Prudential
for its assistance in this matter.
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