Burlington County Man Sentenced for Prescription Drug Theft
Defendant Fraudulently Submitted More Than 80 Claims Valued at $11,000
Over Four Years

TRENTON - Attorney General Zulima V. Farber and Division of Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that a Burlington County man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to illegally submitting more than 80 fraudulent prescription drug insurance claims to two New Jersey insurance companies.

According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Gerald D. McGuigan, 54, of Maple Shade, was sentenced Friday by Camden County Superior Court Judge John T. McNeill III to three years probation, conditioned on his serving 90 days in county jail. He also was ordered to pay $11,220 in restitution. The sentence was pursuant to McGuigan’s March 10 guilty plea to a criminal accusation filed by the Division of Criminal Justice - Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor which charged theft by deception.

At the March 10 guilty plea hearing, McGuigan admitted that between May 6, 2001 and July 18, 2005, he submitted more than 80 phony insurance claims, valued at more than $11,000, 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. The physician issued prescriptions for OxyContin, 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.

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