Burlington County Man Pleads Guilty to Prescription Drug Theft
Defendant Fraudulently Submitted More Than 80 Claims Valued at
$11,000 Over 4 Years

TRENTON - Division of Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that a Burlington County man has pleaded guilty to illegally submitting 80 fraudulent prescription drug insurance claims, totaling more than $11,000, to two New Jersey insurance companies.

According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Gerald D. McGuigan, 54, West Roland Avenue, Maple Shade, Burlington County, pleaded guilty before Camden County Superior Court Judge John T. McNeill, III to theft by deception in the third degree. McGuigan will be sentenced on April 28. He faces up to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $15,000.

At the March 10 guilty plea, McGuigan admitted that between May 6, 2001 and July 18, 2005, he submitted more than 80 phony insurance claims for prescription drugs to Caremark Insurance Company and Medco Health. An investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor determined that McGuigan used his brother's identification when making medical visits to a physician. Consequently, the physician issued prescriptions for Oxycotin, an addictive narcotic used for pain relief, to McGuigan under the brother's name. McGuigan subsequently submitted claim forms for reimbursement to the insurance companies or filled the prescriptions. McGuigan was arrested on July 22, 2005, by state investigators from the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.

State Investigator Shaun Egan, Civil Investigator Eugene Fayer, and Deputy Attorney General Stephen J. Cirillo were assigned to the investigation.

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