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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that a Mercer County husband and wife were
sentenced to state prison today for their
roles in a phony insurance card scheme.
According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
Greta Gooden Brown, Charlotte T. Murphy,
47, was ordered by Superior Court Judge
Darlene J. Pereksta in Mercer County to
serve three and a half years in state prison.
In addition, Murphy forfeited her 1990 Cadillac
as a result of the plea agreement. At the
same hearing, Judge Pereksta also sentenced
Murphy’s husband, Dan L. “Larry”
Murphy, 47, of Trenton, to serve three years
in state prison. The defendants were sentenced
pursuant to their guilty pleas to a September
2006 Mercer County grand jury indictment.
At
the Feb. 13 guilty plea hearing before Superior
Court Judge Darlene J. Pereksta in Mercer
County, Charlotte Murphy pleaded guilty
to conspiracy and tampering with public
records. Dan Murphy pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
The defendants admitted that between July
1 and Sept. 30, 2005, they produced and
sold phony car insurance identification
cards. The couple conspired to produce a
phony Liberty Mutual Auto Insurance card
and a phony State Farm Insurance card in
a false name. Charlotte Murphy also attempted
to register a car at the Motor Vehicle Commission
by using a phony Prudential insurance card.
On
September 29, 2005, the Murphys were arrested
by state investigators from the Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor and charged in
connection with the scam. Phony insurance
cards can sell on the street for anywhere
from $50 to more than $200 apiece. They
are used by uninsured motorists to conceal
the fact that they do not have car insurance
as required by law.
State
Investigators Kelly Howard and Darrell Washington
and Deputy Attorney General Jacqueline Smith
were assigned to the investigation. Smith
represented the Office of Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor at the sentencing.
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