Remny Gomez, 25, of West New York, was sentenced to three years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Robert J. Mega in Union County. Judge Mega also ordered Gomez to pay $4,126 in restitution. The sentence was based on Gomez’s guilty plea to second-degree theft of identity, a charge contained in an August 2010 Union County grand jury indictment.

In pleading guilty on Aug. 1, 2011, Gomez admitted that between Feb. 16 and March 13, 2008, he fraudulently used other people’s personal identifying information to commit insurance fraud and to make credit card purchases without their authorization.

The investigation began after Gomez was arrested on Feb. 17, 2008 by the West New York Police Department while driving a stolen, “re-tagged” 2003 BMW 745. The West New York Police Department’s investigation determined that Gomez was in possession of fraudulently obtained insurance identification. The West New York Police Department referred the matter to the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor for further investigation.

While that investigation was pending, Gomez was arrested on March 13, 2008 while attempting to use a $100 gift card to purchase an $850 computer in a Walmart in Secaucus. A vigilant check out clerk noticed that the account numbers on the check out slip did not match the numbers on the gift card. Further investigation revealed that Gomez possessed a number of credit cards that had been "re encoded," meaning that the credit cards had been digitally altered.

Specifically, Gomez fraudulently possessed the following documents:

Detective Jarek Pyrzanowski and Deputy Attorney General Dennis Kwasnik were assigned to the investigation. Kwasnik represented the state at the sentencing and guilty plea hearings. Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi thanked the Jersey City Police Department, the West New York Police Department, the Weehawken Police Department and the Secaucus Police Department for their 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.