Insurance Fraud Sentence for Former New York Cop

A retired Buffalo, N.Y., police officer will avoid jail but must pay back $6,400 after inflating a car insurance claim.

U.S. Attorney William Hochul says 49-year-old Johnnie Fritz was sentenced Wednesday to 10 months in home confinement for his conviction on a charge of mail fraud.

Authorities say that in 2009, Fritz helped a co-conspirator collect a bigger insurance payout by inflating the value of a stolen Cadillac and that he also made three other unrelated false auto insurance claims.

Fritz also is accused of abusing his position as a police officer by opening a Department of Motor Vehicles account that gave him free access to DMV databases.