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TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that a Bergen County man was sentenced to
state prison today for filing more than
$60,000 in fraudulent marine insurance claims.
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza
Dagli, John Getchius, 62, was sentenced
to eight years in state prison by Superior
Court Judge Liliana S. DeAvila-Silebi in
Bergen County. Getchius was ordered to pay
$25,600 in restitution and agreed to pay
a $50,000 civil penalty. The sentence was
based on the defendant’s guilty plea
to two counts of second-degree insurance
fraud and two counts of third-degree insurance
fraud. The charges were contained in an
Aug. 7, 2008 Bergen County grand jury indictment.
Getchius failed to appear on Nov. 20, 2009,
when he was originally scheduled to be sentenced
for these charges. Getchius was arrested
on Sept. 8, 2010 by the Union County Sheriff’s
Office.
At
the June 11, 2009 guilty plea hearing, Getchius
admitted that between Feb. 25, 2004 and
Dec. 27, 2007, he used a variety of aliases
and assumed identities to commit insurance
fraud involving marine insurance policies.
Getchius submitted $64,000 worth of fictitious
insurance claims alleging that five dinghies,
five outboard motors, a life raft and a
marine tender were lost at sea on various
dates. As a result of the frauds, Getchius
received $25,600. The fraudulent claims
were submitted to several insurance companies,
including the New Hampshire Insurance Company,
the Northern Assurance Company of America,
the Quadrant Indemnity Company, the Vigilant
(Chubb) Insurance Company, and the Zurich/Northern
Insurance Company of New York.
The
Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
obtained a Union County grand jury indictment
in May 2010 charging Getchius with three
counts of issuing bad checks, all in the
third degree. The charges are unrelated
to the ones for which he was sentenced today.
The charges contained in last year’s
indictment remain pending and Getchius is
considered innocent of those charges until
proven guilty.
Detective Earl Washington and Deputy Attorney
General Dennis Kwasnik were assigned to
the investigation. Kwasnik represented the
state at the sentencing. Acting Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor Dagli thanked the New Hampshire
Insurance Company, the Northern Assurance
Company of America, the Quadrant Indemnity
Company, the Vigilant (Chubb) Insurance
Company, and the Zurich/Northern Insurance
Company of New York for their assistance
in this matter. He also thanked Chubb Insurance
Company for referring this matter.
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