Middlesex woman used dead caregiver’s name in laundering scheme, Attorney General says
A Middlesex County woman has been indicted in an alleged insurance fraud and money laundering scheme, in which she allegedly submitted falsified timesheets purporting to be from her dead caregiver.
Leoncia Hutchinson, 72, of Metuchen, was indicted on one count of insurance fraud, a second-degree crime, one count of theft by deception, one count of financial facilitation/money laundering and one count of forgery, third-degree crimes, and 12 counts of forgery, a fourth-degree crime, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.
The indictment, returned by a state grand jury on Oct. 3, was the result of an investigation by the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) after a referral from Continental Casualty Company, a CNA-affiliated underwriting company (CNA).
The investigation showed that between October 2018 and April 2019, Hutchinson allegedly committed insurance fraud by submitting, or causing to be submitted, false, fictitious, or misleading statements to CNA, in an attempt to create the false impression that services were provided to her by an independent caregiver, who was dead at the time. Hutchinson is alleged to have submitted to CNA forged timesheets bearing the dead caregiver’s name, in order to receive long-term care payments from CNA for his services, Platkin said.
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The indictment alleges that CNA made payments to Hutchinson, and she then wrote checks to the dead caregiver, deposited the funds into an account, then moved the funds back into an account in her name, knowing the transactions were designed to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of the money.
Anyone with information about a fraud can report it by calling the toll-free hotline at 1-877-55-FRAUD, or visiting www.NJInsurancefraud.org. State regulations permit a reward to be paid to eligible persons who provide information that leads to an arrest, prosecution, and conviction for insurance fraud.
Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com
Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ woman allegedly used dead caregiver’s name in laundering scheme
