N.J. Prison Inmate Sentenced to Concurrent 4-Year Term After Guilty Plea to Insurance Fraud

New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Director Vaughn McKoy announced that a Bayside Prison inmate has been sentenced to a concurrent four-year sentence after pleading guilty to insurance fraud for his role in submitting a phony $4,200 auto insurance Personal Injury Protection (PIP) claim.

According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden, Tommy L. Edwards, 46, an inmate in Bayside State Prison, Cumberland County, formerly of Linden, Union County, pleaded guilty before Union County Superior Court Judge John Triarsi to a criminal Accusation filed by the Division of Criminal Justice – Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor which charged Insurance Fraud. Edwards was subsequently sentenced to four years in state prison to run concurrent with his current sentence.

At the guilty plea hearing, Edwards reportedly admitted that in July 2003, he presented a fraudulent Elizabeth Police Department accident report to a law firm in Edison, Middlesex County, stating that he had been involved in a motor vehicle accident the previous month. Edwards was treated at Pace Chiropractic in Elizabeth, Union County, where he signed a PIP Application and Affidavit of no insurance. Signing the application enabled Edwards to file for more than $4,200 in medical reimbursements.

An investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice – Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor determined that the police accident report had been altered and that the accident had in fact occurred in April, 2002.

The investigation further determined that Edwards had previously received $4,500 in a civil settlement for the 2002 accident in which he was a pedestrian.