TRENTON
- Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced
that a Union County insurance agent was indicted
today for allegedly accepting insurance premium
money and failing to remit it to the insurance
company.
Virginia
Larsen, 66, of Westfield, was charged with
theft by failure to make required disposition
of property received and two counts of misapplication
of entrusted property and property of government
or financial institution, all in the second
degree.
The
state grand jury indictment alleges that
between July 29 and August 31, 2009, Larsen,
an insurance agent and an officer of Larsen
Global Marine, a financial institution,
obtained $148,739.70 in insurance premiums
that she was obligated to remit to RLI,
an insurance company, but failed to make
the required payment to RLI. The indictment
alleges that Larsen was entrusted with the
premium money as a fiduciary for RLI, but
kept the funds for her own use, knowing
that it was unlawful and involved substantial
risk of loss to RLI.
Deputy Attorney General Steven Bennet and
Detectives Megan Flanagan and Nicole Eiker
were assigned to the investigation. DAG
Bennet presented the case to the state grand
jury. Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Ronald Chillemi thanked RLI for referring
the matter to the Office of Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor.
The indictment is merely an accusation and
the defendant is presumed innocent until
proven guilty. Under state law, crimes of
the second degree carry a maximum punishment
of 10 years in state prison and a criminal
fine of $150,000.
Acting
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald 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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