N.J. Man Sentenced as Part of $500,000 Fraud Scam

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey announced that a Burlington County man charged as part of a multiple-defendant insurance fraud scam has been ordered to repay an insurance company nearly $9,000 as part of a wide-ranging auto insurance fraud theft scheme concocted by a former insurance company employee.

According to Vaughn McKoy, Director, Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Bruce Alston, 49, of Burlington County, was sentenced on Oct. 24 by Burlington County Superior Court Judge Marvin Schlosser to three years probation and ordered to pay $8,825 in restitution to the Allstate Insurance Company.

Gooden Brown noted that Alston pled guilty on March 26 to a criminal Accusation which charged him with conspiracy. Also pleading guilty were reported co-conspirators Lisa Givens, 38, of Camden County, Givens’ husband, George Givens, 37, Chesilhurst, and Michael McCormick, 42, of Camden County.

Lisa and George Givens pled guilty to conspiracy on March 26, while McCormick pled guilty on March 28. Also pleading guilty to conspiracy were Neville L. Holder and his son Neville Louis Holder. The Holders were admitted into the Pre-trial Intervention Program on May 19. Neville L. Holder was ordered to pay $1,646.18 restitution, while Neville Louis Holder was ordered to pay $6,354.65 restitution. All of the defendants pled before Judge Schlosser in Burlington County Superior Court. Sentencing for McCormick and the Givens’ remains pending.

The defendants reportedly admitted that between July, 1995 and September, 1998, to illegally accepting auto insurance claim checks in various amounts knowing that they were not entitled to the money.

It is alleged that the claim checks were fraudulently issued by Linda Clements-Wright, an Allstate Insurance Company Claims Process Specialist working out of the Allstate Market Claims offices located in Mt. Laurel and Moorestown. Clements-Wright was charged via a State Grand Jury indictment returned on May 22 with conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking and money laundering.

The indictment charged Clements-Wright as the central defendant in a $500,000 insurance theft scheme in which Clements-Wright allegedly obtained insurance claim checks in various amounts by entering fraudulent information into a claims computer which, based on the fictitious claims information, generated invoices for payment of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and other insurance claims.

The indictment alleged that Clements-Wright enlisted the six co-defendants to cash the fraudulent checks. The co-defendants would keep ten percent of the stolen monies with 90 percent of the proceeds returned to Clements-Wright. The amounts of the thefts were:

Neville Louis Holder – $1,998
Michael McCormick – $10,078
Neville L. Holder – $1,646
Lisa Givens – $8,387
George Givens – $7,129
Bruce Alston – $8,387

The investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice – Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor determined that the Clements-Wright scheme resulted in the issuance of up to 146 fraudulent claims checks totaling $554,941. The investigation remains ongoing with additional arrests and charges anticipated.