TRENTON - Attorney General David Samson announced that a Brooklyn, New York, man was sentenced today to State Prison for his involvement in a scheme to defraud the Prudential Insurance Company.

According to Peter C. Harvey, First Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Division of Criminal Justice, David Boatswain, 29, formerly of 576 Eastern Parkway, Apt. 6A, Brooklyn, New York, but currently residing in a New York jail, was sentenced to three years in State prison and ordered to pay restitution to Prudential Insurance Company in the amount of $6,288. Boatswain's jail term will run concurrent to his New York sentence.

Boatswain was sentenced pursuant to his guilty plea to a single count of an indictment which charged him with third-degree theft by deception.

At his guilty plea hearing on September 10, 2002 before Judge F. Michael Giles in Superior Court, Essex County, Boatswain admitted that between March 21, 2001 and May 2, 2001, he contacted the Prudential Insurance Company purportedly to purchase an automobile insurance policy. Boatswain advised Prudential that he would wire the premium money to the insurance company without delay. Prudential, relying on the misrepresentations made by Boatswain, put the insurance coverage in place.

The next day however, Boatswain called to cancel the policy and asked Prudential for a refund of the insurance premium money even though Prudential had not in fact received those funds from Boatswain. Prudential refunded Boatswain the premium money which Boatswain stole and used for his own purposes.

At his guilty plea hearing, Boatswain admitted to receiving two purported "refund" checks from Prudential in the amount of $3,600 and further investigation by OIFP revealed that Boatswain may have received as much as $6,288 from Prudential as part of the scheme.

Boatswain has been held in the Essex County Jail since his guilty plea.

The indictment to which Boatswain pleaded guilty was filed by the Division of Criminal Justice's Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor which investigates and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance fraud related cases.

State Investigators Keith Johnson and Scott Stevens, and Deputy Attorney General Philip J. Mogavero were assigned to the investigation into this case. DAG Mogavero represented the State at the guilty plea hearing. All are assigned to the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.

"Under State law, insurance carriers are required to refer suspicious matters to the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. Prudential became suspicious of these policy cancellations, forwarded the case to this office, and this office conducted a thorough criminal investigation which led to Boatswain's conviction," said Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown. "We are pleased for Prudential's assistance in this case and will continue to investigate these and other fraudulent insurance related conduct whenever it is brought to our attention."

Noting that some important cases have begun with anonymous tips from the public, Prosecutor Brown encouraged New Jersey residents concerned about insurance cheating and who have information about insurance fraud to contact the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor toll-free hotline at 1-877-55-FRAUD, or visit the Division's 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 both 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.