TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Division
of Criminal Justice Director Stephen J.
Taylor announced that a Union County insurance
agency employee was sentenced today for
diverting approximately $20,000 worth of
life insurance proceeds to himself.
According to Acting Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor Riza Dagli, Vincent Scaturro,
56, of Lodi, was sentenced by Superior Court
Judge Stuart Peim in Union County to two
years probation and ordered to pay $20,270
in restitution. Scaturro was sentenced based
on his guilty plea to an accusation which
charged him with insurance fraud.
In pleading guilty on Dec.
9, 2009, Scaturro, an employee of Monumental
Life Insurance Company, admitted that he
submitted false disbursement request forms.
The forms purportedly represented the requests
of certain life insurance policyholders
to claim insurance proceeds from Monumental
Life Insurance Company. Scaturro admitted
that he knew these requests were false,
and that he retained the insurance policy
proceeds for himself.
Two other Monumental Life
Insurance Company agents, Luigi Sacco and
Susan Caines were charged on Feb. 24 in
a conspiracy to divert an additional $40,000
worth of life insurance proceeds to themselves.
Sacco, 49, of Fair Lawn,
and Caines, 61, of East Orange, were charged
in an indictment with second-degree conspiracy
to commit insurance fraud, second-degree
insurance fraud, and third-degree theft
by deception.
The Union County grand jury indictment alleges
that between August 2004 and December 2005,
Sacco and Caines, allegedly stole more than
$60,000 by submitting false disbursement
request forms. It is charged that the fraudulent
forms purportedly represented the requests
of certain life insurance policy holders
to claim insurance proceeds from Monumental
Life Insurance Company. According to the
indictment, Sacco and Caines allegedly knew
the requests were false. They allegedly
cashed the Monumental checks themselves
or had them made payable to the Hands and
Ears Crisis Center (Helping Hands) which
cashed them and, in turn, transmitted the
proceeds to the insurance agents.
The charges against Sacco
and Caines are merely accusations and the
defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty. Second-degree crimes carry a maximum
sentence of 10 years in state prison and
a criminal fine of $150,000, while crimes
of the third degree carry a maximum sentence
of five years in state prison and a criminal
fine of $15,000. The defendants also face
the possibility of civil insurance fraud
fines.
Detective Sherry Stevens
and Deputy Attorney General Dennis Kwasnik
coordinated the investigation. Kwasnik prosecuted
the case and represented the Office of the
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the sentencing.
He also presented the Sacco and Caines case
to the Union County grand jury.
Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Dagli thanked Monumental Life Insurance
Company for referring this matter to the
Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
and for assisting in the investigation.
The Department of Banking and Insurance
routinely assists the Office of the Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor with the investigation
and prosecution of licensed insurance agents.
This assistance enables the State to coordinate
criminal investigations and prosecutions
with any imposition of licensing sanctions
in order to protect the public.
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