The state Office of the Attorney General has reported that Nicholas M. Schneiderman, a 43-year-old resident of Carteret, New Jersey, masqueraded as his deceased mother to capitalize on discounted insurance and file false claims after Hurricane Sandy.
Schneiderman has been indicted on insurance fraud, impersonation and theft by deception. He is accused of pretending to be his late mother in a June 2012 phone call to
Hartford Insurance Company. He transferred her AARP-discounted renters’ insurance from her apartment to his own, the state attorney general’s office said, and also added his name to the policy as her husband.
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Christopher Porrino, Attorney General, said that Schneiderman “compounded his crime” by filing multiple claims for jewelry and other items he said were snatched from his car when he left his residence during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.
Schneiderman is accused of amassing over $6,000 from Hartford for the stolen items, such as a laptop computer, an 18-karat gold chain, and diamond earrings, as reported at the NJ.com website.
Authorities state that he filed another claim for the same items with American Banker’s Insurance Company of Florida, which denied the claim.
“Senior-citizen insurance discounts are meant to provide financial relief to the elderly, not illegally enrich fraudsters who want to avoid paying their fair share for coverage,” Porrino said in a statement.
Schneiderman faces up to a decade in prison on the most serious charge, second-degree insurance fraud.
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