TRENTON
Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Division
of Criminal Justice Director Stephen J.
Taylor announced that a Bergen County man
was sentenced to state prison today for
stealing more than $8,000 in property and
services from a Union County golf club.
According
to Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald
Chillemi, John Getchius, 62, whose last
known address was in Garfield, was sentenced
by Superior Court Judge Scott J. Moynihan
in Union County to three years in state
prison and ordered to pay $8,984 in restitution.
The sentence will run concurrent to the
eight-year prison sentence Getchius is currently
serving as a result of pleading guilty to
other charges brought by the Office of the
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.
Today’s
sentence was based on Getchius’ March
14 guilty plea to third-degree theft by
deception. The charge was contained in a
Union County grand jury indictment returned
on May 7, 2010.
In
pleading guilty to the charge for which
he was sentenced today, Getchius admitted
that between May 5 and Aug. 31, 2009, he
fraudulently obtained property and services
from Suburban Golf Club, located in Union.
Getchius created the false impression that
he would make payments in the amount of
$8,984. In order to deceive the golf club
of his intentions, Getchius wrote three
bad checks to Suburban Golf Club, knowing
that the banks would not honor the checks.
Getchius
is currently serving an eight-year prison
sentence after pleading guilty on June 11,
2009 to two counts of second degree insurance
fraud and two counts of third degree insurance
fraud. The charges were contained in a 2008
Bergen County grand jury indictment. According
to the plea agreement, Getchius was also
ordered to pay $25,600 in restitution and
a $50,000 civil fine.
With
respect to those charges, 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 fraud, 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.
Detective Earl Washington and Deputy Attorney
General Dennis Kwasnik were assigned to
the investigation. Deputy Attorney General
Kwasnik represented the state at the sentencing.
Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Chillemi
thanked Suburban Golf Club for referring
this matter to the Office of the Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor and for its assistance
in the investigation.
Acting
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Chillemi noted
that some important cases have started with
anonymous tips. People who are concerned
about insurance cheating and have information
about a fraud can report it anonymously
by calling the toll free hotline at 1
877 55 FRAUD, or visiting the Web
site at www.NJInsurancefraud.org
. State regulations permit a reward to be
paid to an eligible person who provides
information that leads to an arrest, prosecution
and conviction for insurance fraud.
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