Insurance Fraud

Two Pennsylvania men have been charged with conspiracy, theft by deception, and insurance fraud on allegations that they damaged homes in South Jersey after persuading owners to report hail damage to insurance companies, authorities said Wednesday. Marcin Gradziel, 32, of Norristown, and Dominik Sadowski, 34, of Sellersville, were responsible for more than $69,000 worth of damage to at least five homes in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Mercer Counties, according to Ronald Chillemi, acting insurance-fraud prosecutor.

Eliot Ness he's not. With a grayish beard and unassuming demeanor, Ed Neafsey looks more like a college professor than the man who would put away the ringleaders of auto insurance fraud in New Jersey. But Neafsey, who is expected to be confirmed today by the state Senate as New Jersey's first insurance-fraud prosecutor, does have one thing in common with the "Untouchable" Ness who fought the mob in the 1930s: Neafsey is about to take what he describes as a "hot seat" in one of the most volatile crime issues of his day. Auto insurance has been a problem in New Jersey since the 1970s, partly because of fraud, which has helped give the state the country's highest average rates for a decade.

Unscrupulous lawyers, doctors, clinics, claims adjusters, auto mechanics and greedy ordinary people who engage in insurance scams beware! District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham announced yesterday that her office would be coming after violators, thanks to new legislation that gives local law-enforcement agencies and the state attorney general $12 million annually to investigate and prosecute insurance schemes. The funds will come solely from the Pennsylvania insurance industry.

A Philadelphia man yesterday was sentenced to up to six years in prison for using another man's identity to receive medical care at several hospitals. Daniel Sullivan, 52, of the 5000 block of F Street, pleaded guilty to insurance fraud, identity theft and forgery after investigators discovered that he ran up $146,000 in medical bills on David Richardson's health plan. Investigators for Attorney General Tom Corbett's office said Sullivan posed as Richardson on medical insurance forms and other documentation without Richardson's permission or knowledge.

For the last nine months, lawyer Robert B. Burke has been a central figure in the investigation of the slaying of Donna Willard, a Southwest Philadelphia hairdresser who was saying good night to her three children when a knock on the door brought her downstairs to a lone gunman and death. Just 10 days ago, two men, including a Burke client named James D. Louie, were charged with killing Willard on March 6 to prevent her from testifying before the federal grand jury that was investigating Burke and others for insurance fraud.

Statements made by former Police Capt. James J. Brady and Capt. Joseph J. DiLacqua to police investigators may not be used against the pair if they are brought to trial for orchestrating a cover-up of an automobile accident by Brady, according to lawyers involved in the case. And that could prove beneficial for their defense, if it can be shown that the statements were used to gather evidence against them. In that instance - which Brady's lawyer contends is the case - that evidence would be inadmissible in court, the lawyers say. Brady, once the popular commander of the homicide unit, and DiLacqua were charged Wednesday with orchestrating the cover-up of Brady's police-car crash after he spent a night drinking Feb. 12, 1998.

Charles Doneson, 40, was arrested yesterday by agents of the state Office of the Attorney General and charged with submitting fraudulent medical insurance claims. Doneson, of Doylestown Township, said he injured his neck and back in a 1992 accident in his two-story Colonial house, according to Kevin Harley, spokesman for the attorney general. He later submitted a claim for $9,791 to Independence Blue Cross for three months of physical therapy at Atlantic Rehab Associates in Bensalem, authorities charged.

A veteran Center City personal-injury lawyer who portrayed himself as champion of poor people injured in falls and car crashes - and who prosecutors called the "CEO of a thiefdom" - was convicted of insurance fraud yesterday. H. Allen Litt, 59, grimaced and then frowned as the Common Pleas Court jury returned verdicts against him on a charge of dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity, six counts of insurance fraud, nine counts of theft by deception, and two counts of attempted theft by deception.

An insurance agent from South Jersey and 11 other people have been charged with providing Pennyslvania vehicle registration and cheaper insurance to thousands of out-of-state owners, officials said today. Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly described Clifford McCoy, 62, Marlton, as the ringleader of a network that used various schemes to fraudulently obtain the registations. The charges against McCoy, owner of two Philadelphia insurance agencies, Aarow Insurance and A-Mobile, and his codefendants grew out of a grand jury investigation.

PENNSYLVANIA 'Shocking' treatment A federal judge yesterday recommended the release of an elderly man who remains in prison nearly two years after being acquitted on murder charges in the 2007 death of a police officer he shot decades earlier. In a report recommending the immediate release of William Barnes, U.S. Magistrate Timothy Rice said that Barnes had endured "a shocking pattern of arbitrary and irrational expectations, requirements and parole denials. " Rice's recommendation now goes to U.S. District Judge James Knoll Gardner, in Allentown, who will rule on Barnes' release.

With their finances deteriorating and banks threatening to repossess their cars, Philadelphia Police Sgt. Dwayne Darby and roommate Kariem Mangum had a plan: hide their cars and report them stolen before the repo men arrived. What could go wrong? A lot, as Darby admitted by pleading guilty Tuesday before a Philadelphia judge to insurance-fraud charges in a deal that will cost him three years probation and a $5,000 civil penalty to an insurance-fraud prevention agency. Darby, 37, a police officer for 16 years assigned to West Philadelphia's 22d District, said nothing before being sentenced by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Chris R. Wogan in a plea deal with the District Attorney's Office to perjury, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and attempted theft.

"GREED" drove Center City dentist Owen Rogal and his daughter Kim Rogal to defraud 15 insurance companies out of nearly $5 million from 2002 to 2011, District Attorney Seth Williams said yesterday. "This is a case that only happened because of greed," Williams said at a news conference. "He could have continued making a more comfortable living than probably 98 percent of all Americans as a dentist, but because he saw this as an opportunity, he took it. " Rogal, 71, owner of the Pain Center, on 12th Street near Lombard, and his daughter, his office manager, who lives in Delaware, surrendered yesterday and were charged with 15 counts of insurance fraud, 12 counts of theft by deception and related counts.

A Center City dentist and his daughter have been indicted on charges of billing insurance companies for almost $5 million in fraudulent medical bills through the pain management clinic they operate together. Owen Rogal, 71, who has been living and working in Center City for decades, runs the Pain Center at 12th and Lombard Streets. His 50-year-old daughter, Kim Rogal, of Delaware, works there as an office manager. Since mid-2002, District Attorney Seth Williams said Wednesday, the Rogals have repeatedly billed 15 insurance companies $4,800 for a procedure that costs $800 at the most.

A Montgomery County lawyer has been charged with insurance fraud in connection with an injury claim he filed after a 2006 traffic accident, authorities said Friday. Attorney General Linda Kelly said Edward T. Feierstein, 73, of Bala Cynwyd, falsely claimed that injuries from the accident prevented him from exercising at a gym and playing tennis. He filed a $125,000 claim with a Philadelphia insurance firm. Video surveillance after the accident showed Feierstein playing tennis, and using weights and other workout equipment, according to court papers.

HARRISBURG - A state Supreme Court justice known for writing opinions in rhyme has done it again, producing six pages of verse Thursday in the case of whether a check forger had also committed insurance fraud. Justice J. Michael Eakin, writing for a 4-2 majority, concluded in six-line stanzas that a man's attempt to deposit a forged check that appeared to be from State Farm didn't constitute insurance fraud. "Sentenced on the other crimes, he surely won't go free, but we find he can't be guilty of this final felony," Eakin wrote.