TRENTON
- Acting Attorney General Peter C. Harvey
announced that a Bergen County massage
therapist has been sentenced for submitting
more than $5,000 in fraudulent insurance
claims to the Chubb Insurance Company.
According to Vaughn L. McKoy, Acting Director,
Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Anthony
Spano, 53, Evergreen Street, Hillsdale,
was ordered by Bergen County Superior
Court Judge William C. Meehan to pay a
$5,000 civil insurance fraud fine pursuant
to the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act,
serve two years probation, and pay $307.00
restitution to the Chubb Insurance Company.
The sentence was handed down by Judge
Meehan on June 13.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Brown noted
that Spano, a massage therapist formerly
employed at the Circle of Health Clinic
in Hillsdale, entered a guilty plea before
Judge Meehan on March 4. Spano was charged
via a criminal Accusation with one count
of theft by deception. At the guilty plea
hearing, Spano admitted that between July
13, 1999 and March 1, 2000, submitting
$5,425 in fraudulent Personal Injury Protection
(PIP) insurance claims to the Chubb Insurance
Company for 29 massage therapy sessions
that were never rendered to patients.
The Accusation was filed by the Division
of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor which investigates and
prosecutes civil and criminal insurance
fraud cases. State Investigator Michael
J. Rusciano, Civil Investigator Carol
Seekamp and Deputy Attorney General Walter
J. Krako coordinated the investigation.
DAG Krako represented the Division of
Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor at the sentence hearing.
The case was referred to the Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor by the SIU
Unit of the Chubb Insurance Company.
"The falsification of Personal Injury
Protection (PIP) insurance claims continues
to be a serious problem confronting the
citizens of New Jersey. The Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor We will continue
to aggressively investigate and prosecute
such cases," said Insurance Fraud
Prosecutor Brown.
Noting that some important cases have
begun with anonymous tips from the public,
Prosecutor Brown encouraged New Jerseyans
concerned about insurance cheating and
who have information about insurance fraud
to contact the Division of Criminal Justice
- Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
toll-free hotline at 1-877-55-FRAUD, or
to visit the insurance fraud web site
at www.NJInsurancefraud.org
.
Housed in the Department of Law and Public
Safety's Division of Criminal Justice
and reporting to the Attorney General,
the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
was established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998 (AICRA). The
Office is the centralized state agency
that investigates and prosecutes civil
and criminal insurance fraud, as well
as Medicaid fraud. Criminal convictions
for insurance fraud can result in fines
and imprisonment, while civil penalties
can include substantial fines and referral
for revocation or suspension of professional
licenses.
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