Five New Jersey residents were indicted by separate grand juries for falsely reporting the theft of their cars, which had actually been instead sold to undercover police officers.
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram and Division of Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni said the charges stem from an ongoing investigation into an automobile “give up” scheme in which its leader, Jose Torres, was previously sentenced to eight years in state prison with five years of parole ineligibility.
Officials say five insurance companies, whose staff assisted in the investigations, paid fraudulent claims totaling $68,865 to the five people charged in the indictments.
“Too many people are willing to lie to the police and to insurance companies, claiming their car was stolen in order to avoid car payments, repair bills or expensive end-of-lease payments,” Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Riza Dagli said in a statement.
Jose Pujols, 37, of Paterson, N.J., was charged with second-degree insurance fraud, third- and fourth-degree theft by deception, third-degree tampering with public records or information and fourth-degree falsifying records. The indictment alleges that on Sept. 30, 2006, Pujols reported to the Paterson Police Department that his 2000 Honda Accord had been stolen from in front of his house in Paterson and that he had last seen it around 8:45 p.m. Sept. 29, 2006. An investigation determined that the vehicle had not been stolen but had allegedly been purchased as part of an undercover law enforcement operation around 1:30 p.m. Sept. 28, 2006, in Dover, Del.
Pujols is accused of filing a fraudulent vehicle theft claim with Geico Insurance Co. over the phone Sept. 30, 2006. On Oct. 17, 2006, Pujols allegedly completed an affidavit, falsely claiming that his vehicle was stolen along with personal items and baseball equipment inside the car. He subsequently submitted the false affidavit to Geico.
As a result of the false claim, Pujols allegedly received $8,265 for the Honda and $200 for the personal items in the car, knowing that neither the car nor the personal items had been stolen.
Mark P. McCaffrey, 29, of Landing, N.J., was charged with insurance fraud, theft by deception and tampering with public records or information (all third-degree) as well as fourth-degree falsifying records. The indictment alleges that on Sept. 9, 2006, McCaffrey falsely reported to the Roxbury Police Department that his 1999 Lincoln Navigator had been stolen when, in fact, the vehicle had been sold to undercover detectives Sept. 5, 2006.
McCaffrey is accused of submitting a fraudulent affidavit to Geico Insurance Co., claiming that his vehicle was stolen and received $13,000 from Geico, to which he was not entitled.
Natividad Lopez, 33, of Passaic, N.J., faces charges insurance fraud, theft by deception, tampering with public records or information (all third-degree) as well as fourth-degree falsifying records for falsely reporting a theft to the Passaic Police Department, the indictment alleges. She reported in a fraudulent affidavit to the IFA Insurance Co. that her 2000 Jaguar S had been stolen Sept. 1, 2006. In fact, the vehicle had been sold to undercover detectives on Aug. 23, 2006. As a result of the alleged fraud, IFA Insurance paid the lien holder of the Jaguar $16,400 for the car.
Caseem Gresham, 36, of Saddle Brook, N.J., was charged with insurance fraud, theft by deception, tampering with public records or information (all third-degree), and fourth-degree falsifying records for allegedly reporting Oct. 30, 2006, to the Garfield Police Department that his 2005 Honda Accord had been stolen. Authorities say the vehicle had been sold to undercover detectives Oct. 26, 2006. The indictment charges that Gresham subsequently submitted a fraudulent affidavit to First Trenton Cos./Travelers Insurance Co., claiming that his vehicle had been stolen.
As a result, Gresham allegedly received $11,400 from Travelers, to which he was not entitled.
Gladys Ramos, 26, of Paterson, N.J., was charged with insurance fraud, theft by deception, and tampering with public records or information (all third-degree) for fraudulently reporting Oct. 5, 2006, to the Paterson Police Department that her 2006 Chevrolet Equinox had been stolen when, in fact, the vehicle had been sold to undercover detectives Sept. 29, 2006. The indictment further alleges that Ramos submitted a false vehicle theft claim to Allstate Insurance Co. and illegally received $19,600 from Allstate.
Five New Jersey residents indicted in insurance fraud ‘give up’ schemes via IFAwebnews .
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