Arrests for May 2010
These arrests were made possible through the cooperation of the Frauds Bureau, law enforcement, the insurance industry and the public.
To report suspected incidents of insurance fraud, call 1-888-FRAUDNY
CAUGHT!
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- SENTENCED
David A. Bower of Frankfurt, NY, was sentenced on 5/26/10 to 90 days in jail and five years’ probation after pleading guilty to violating the Workers’ Compensation Law. He paid $3,500 in restitution at sentencing. He was arrested on 12/14/09 following an investigation by the Frauds Bureau. The investigation revealed that Bower submitted a Work Activity Report stating that he was unable to work because of a job-related back injury while he was actually working as a disc jockey at a bar in Utica.
- GUILTY PLEAS
After a two-week trial, Jeffrey Alnutt was convicted on 5/10/10 of murder, manslaughter, reckless endangerment and arson in connection with a fatal fire in December 2007. He set the fire in a house he owned in which a tenant died while trying to save her cat. He faces 25 years to life in prison for these convictions. In addition, he is currently serving a prison term of 5-to-15 years for a 2004 arson conviction. In December 2009, he was found guilty of torching another house he owned as part of an insurance fraud scheme. His daughter and son-in-law also got jail time for their part in the scheme. The jury convicted them of conspiring to set fire to the home in order to collect the insurance payment. They received $210,000 on an insurance claim they filed for the loss. The investigations were conducted by the Frauds Bureau and the trials that led to both convictions were prosecuted by the Fulton County District Attorney.
Jonathan Boxman, who controlled a real estate title insurance company licensed in New York and various other title abstract companies and agents, pleaded guilty in early May 2010 to wire fraud for bilking clients of more than $1.7 million, including almost $385,000 from a church in Queens. His companies acted as settlement or escrow agents in real estate deals. They received large sums of money to pay mortgage recording fees, real estate taxes and other fees attendant to the purchase of commercial and residential properties. However, an investigation by the Frauds Bureau and the FBI revealed that Boxman instead used the money collected to pay the operating expenses of his companies. As a result, several mortgages and deeds went unrecorded. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on 8/27/10.
- DISC JOCKEY AT WORK
Arrested on 5/28/10
Charged with violation of Section 114.1 of the Workers’ Compensation Law
An upstate office clerk began collecting workers’ compensation benefits following an injury she sustained while working for a newspaper in Utica. During the benefit period, she filed a Work Activity Report with AIG Insurance Company stating that she was not employed. However, an investigation by the Frauds Bureau revealed that she was working as a disc jockey at a local bar while collecting $2,580 in benefits to which she was not entitled.
- RING TURNS UP
Arrested on 5/20/10
Charged with insurance fraud in the 3rd degree
The defendant in this case reported to the Highland Falls Police Department that her diamond engagement ring had been lost or stolen. The ring was valued at $14,850 and Allstate Insurance Company issued a check for that amount. However, an investigation by the Frauds Bureau and the PD uncovered evidence that the defendant’s ex-husband was in possession of the ring and the defendant was aware of that fact when she made the fraudulent report.
- 182 BOGUS CLAIMS
Arrested on 5/20/10
Charged with grand larceny in the 2nd degree and insurance fraud in the 2nd degree
An investigation by the Frauds Bureau resulted in the arrest of a Queens woman charged with filing fraudulent health insurance claims. While working as a medical billing clerk in a doctor’s office from 2005 to 2010, she filed 182 claims totaling $82,625 with an Oxford health insurance plan for medical treatments she purportedly received from the doctor who employed her. On occasion, she sent the insurer as many as four or five claims a week. Oxford paid $61,545 on the claims directly to the suspect who used the money for person gain.
- HEALTH AIDE ON THE JOB
Arrested on 5/20/10
Charged with grand larceny in the 3rd degree, insurance fraud in the 3rd degree, offering a false instrument for filing in the 1st degree and violation of the Workers’ Compensation Law
Following an injury incurred while working as a home health aide, a Troy, NY, woman began collecting workers’ compensation benefits. However, an investigation by the Frauds Bureau and the State Insurance Fund revealed that she continued to work as a health aide at the same time that she was fraudulently collecting more than $5,000 in benefits.
- PHONY DRIVER’S LICENSE
Arrested on 5/14/10
Charged with possession of a forged instrument in the 2nd degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the 1st degree
An investigation by the Frauds Bureau and the Department of Motor Vehicles led to the arrest of an upstate paramedic who was accused of submitting a fraudulent driver’s license application. The defendant was convicted of DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired) in 1985 and had his driver’s license revoked. He subsequently used altered documents to obtain a new license, using a different date of birth and middle initial and then purchased auto insurance using the false information. The fraud was discovered when he attempted to renew his license in 2010.
- NO COMPUTERS DAMAGED
Arrested on 5/14/10
Charged with insurance fraud in the 3rd degree and criminal possession of a forged instrument in the 2nd degree
A Rochester man submitted a receipt with the logo of a local computer store as proof that he had paid $3,443 for repairs/replacement of computers that were allegedly destroyed in a flood in his mother’s basement. However, a staff member at the computer store informed investigators that store records showed that the defendant had never purchased any of their computers nor had any repaired. The Frauds Bureau and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office pooled resources in the investigation that led to his arrest.
- FRIEND’S FAULT
Arrested on 5/14/10
Charged with falsely reporting an incident in the 3rd degree
The defendant in this case reported to the Rochester Police Department and State Farm Insurance Company that his 1998 Cadillac DeVille had been stolen. The police subsequently recovered the car and during an investigation conducted jointly with the Frauds Bureau, the defendant admitted that the police report he filed was false. He confessed that he had lent the car to a friend who was involved in an accident while driving it. He believed that his insurer would not cover the damage caused by the accident because his friend was driving the car at the time.
- PERSONAL INFO STOLEN
Arrested on 5/13/10
Charged with grand larceny in the 3rd and 4th degrees, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the 2nd degree and scheme to defraud in the 1st degree
A former employee of an insurance agency that wrote policies for National Income Life Insurance Company received a 1099 form for commissions he purportedly received based on policies that were written after he left the agency. He reported the matter to the Nassau County Police Department who notified the Frauds Bureau and an investigation was initiated. Evidence indicated that five agents were involved in a scheme that used identity theft, falsifying of business records and forgery to establish fake insurance policies, earning commissions and guaranteed bonuses based on selling those policies. The five defendants were charged with using the company-issued agent code of the former employee to write the policies and forging his signature to cash the commission checks.
- MATERIAL MISREPRESENTATION
Arrested on 5/12/10
Charged with violation of Section 114.1 of the Workers’ Compensation Law
An investigation by the Frauds Bureau led to the arrest of a Long Island architect on suspicion of workers’ compensation fraud. Investigators learned that the defendant owed $22,134 on a workers’ compensation insurance policy with the State Insurance Fund that had been cancelled for nonpayment of premium. In an effort to avoid payment, he allegedly instructed his wife to omit facts material to her application to the Fund for insurance coverage on a second company. Consequently, the Fund was never informed that the defendant was president of the second company and held 100 percent of its shares. The amount owed by the defendant to the Fund totaled $32,362.
- FIRE DELIBERATELY SET
Arrested on 5/11/10
Charged with violation of Title 18 of the U.S. Code
An investigation by the Frauds Bureau and Utica National Insurance Group’s SIU resulted in the arrest of an upstate man charged with arranging for his son to set fire to a property the he co-owned with two partners. The property included a main building and additional smaller buildings on five acres of land. Investigators found evidence that the defendant bought the property in November 2005 and had it insured through Erie Insurance Company. He then applied for a $794,000 loan ostensibly for renovations to the property. In support of his application, he submitted allegedly fraudulent commercial leases for several small businesses he claimed were ready to move into the buildings once the renovations were completed. The property was destroyed by fire in November 2006 and the defendant subsequently filed a $4,266,051 claim with Erie for the loss.
- CAR FIRE
Arrested on 5/10/10
Charged with insurance fraud in the 3rd degree
A Dutchess County man was arrested on a charge that he paid two unknown persons $400 to steal and burn his 2003 Honda Civic so he could collect the insurance payout. Frauds Bureau investigators discovered that the NYPD had impounded the car after they found it burned, a week before the defendant contacted the Newburgh Police Department to report it stolen. He also filed a claim for the loss which GEICO Insurance Company declined to pay.
- EX-WIFE NAMED
Arrested on 5/10/10
Charged with insurance fraud in the 3rd degree
Following an investigation by the Frauds Bureau, a supermarket maintenance worker was arrested for naming his ex-wife as his spouse on an application for employer-sponsored health insurance although they were no longer married. He told investigators that his ex-wife needed medical coverage. As a result of the fraud, Excellus Insurance Company paid more than $29,000 in medical benefits to which the ex-wife was not entitled.
- CAR AND MONEY KEPT
Arrested on 5/10/10
Charged with insurance fraud in the 2nd degree, grand larceny in the 2nd degree and falsifying business records
On 9/23/09, a Queens man reported to the NYPD that his 2007 Mercedes Benz had been stolen and filed a claim with GEICO Insurance Company for the loss. GEICO paid out $60,633 on the claim. However, an investigation by the Frauds Bureau uncovered evidence that the defendant recovered the car parked in front of his residence on 12/7/09 and notified the NYPD to cancel the alarm. However, he did not inform GEICO about the recovery and kept both the money and the car.
- NO MORE LEASE PAYMENTS
Arrested on 5/4/10
Charged with arson in the 5th degree, insurance fraud in the 5th degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the 2nd degree
During an investigation by the Frauds Bureau and the FDNY Fire Marshals, the defendant in this case admitted that he burned his wife’s 2009 Nissan Murano SUV. He said that when they negotiated the lease, they got a bad deal and he set fire to the vehicle to avoid the costly lease payments.
- FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATES
Arrested on 5/3/10
Charged with possession of a forged instrument in the 2nd degree, falsifying business records in the 1st degree and insurance fraud in the 5th degree
A supervisor at a drywall installment business was hired as a subcontractor by a construction company that had a policy with the State Insurance Fund. The subcontractor presented three Certificates of Insurance to his employer as proof that he had workers’ compensation coverage as required by New York State law. However, an investigation by the Frauds Bureau and the Workers’ Compensation Board’s Office of the Fraud Inspector General revealed that the Certificates were fraudulent and no coverage was in place. As a result, the construction company was liable for $6,622 in unpaid premiums.
- RATE EVASION
Arrested on 4/29/10
Charged with insurance fraud
An investigation by the Frauds Bureau resulted in the arrest of a husband and wife who operated two livery transportation businesses. The couple reported to The Robert Plan that their vehicles were airport limousines and the businesses were run out of Suffolk County. However, evidence gathered by investigators indicated that the vehicles were ordinary limousines operating throughout the five boroughs of New York City. As a result, The Robert Plan was defrauded of more than $50,000 in premiums.
PRIOR SUPPLEMENT
April 2010
