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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw, announced
that a former employee of a Union County
insurance company has been sentenced for
stealing more than $42,000 from the company
by issuing fictitious claim checks.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Crystal Shaw, 39, of Plainfield,
was sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge
Salem Vincent Ahto in Morris County to serve
five years probation, complete 10 hours
of community service, and pay $42,395 in
restitution. Shaw was sentenced pursuant
to her May 6 guilty plea to theft by deception,
a charge contained in a Feb. 27 Morris County
grand jury indictment.
In
pleading guilty, Shaw admitted that between
May 31, 2005 and March 21, 2006, while employed
as an auto claims representative for State
Farm Insurance Company, she falsified automobile
insurance claims information in order to
issue fraudulent and unauthorized claims
checks to a fictitious person named Darrin
Shefton. Shaw admitted that she stole the
$42,395 in claims money that was paid as
a result of the fraudulent checks.
Detective Carlos Ortiz and Deputy Attorney
General Steven B. Farman were assigned to
the investigation. Farman represented the
state at the sentencing.
The
case was referred to OIFP by the State Farm
Insurance Company, which initially uncovered
the fraud and assisted OIFP in the investigation.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Brown thanks
State Farm for their assistance in this
matter.
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