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For Immediate Release: For Further Information
Contact:
April 20, 2007 Division of Criminal Justice,
(609) 292-4791
TRENTON - Attorney General Stuart Rabner
and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A.
Paw announced that a Bergen County chiropractor
has been sentenced after pleading guilty
for his role in a health care insurance
fraud.
According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Greta Gooden Brown, Marc Centrelli, 46,
of Sparta, was ordered by Superior Court
Judge William C. Meehan in Bergen County
to pay $14,805 in fines and restitution,
and to serve one year probation. In addition,
Centrelli’s chiropractic license was
suspended for three years. Centrelli must
successfully complete an ethics course before
resuming practice. The sentence was pursuant
to Centrelli’s Jan. 11 guilty plea
to a criminal accusation which charged health
care claims fraud.
At the guilty plea hearing before Judge
Meehan, Centrelli, a licensed chiropractor
with an office in Fair Lawn, admitted that
between April 30, 2003, and Feb. 11, 2004,
he recklessly submitted more than $9,725
in insurance claims to the Selective Insurance
Company pursuant to the Personal Injury
Protection (PIP) portion of automobile insurance
policies provided by the several insurance
carriers. Centrelli admitted that the insurance
claims were submitted for services that
he did not render. An investigation determined
that, for many of the dates on which Centrelli
submitted the claims, he was out of the
office and not seeing patients.
State Investigators Johnny Ho, Robyn Greene,
Toni Petreski, and Abraham Aquina coordinated
the investigation. DAG Kwasnik represented
the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
at the sentencing. Selective Insurance Company
assisted in the investigation.
Prosecutor Brown 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 1-877-55-FRAUD or visiting
the Web at www.njinsurancefraud.org.State
regulations permit an award to be paid to
an eligible person who provides information
that leads to an arrest, prosecution and
conviction for insurance fraud.
The Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
was established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998. The office is
the centralized state agency that investigates
and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance
fraud, as well as Medicaid fraud.
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