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Brian Bullock, 31, was charged with second-degree insurance fraud, second- and third-degree falsifying government documents, and third-degree tampering with public records or information in connection with the June 20 crash, Acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Roselle Police Chief Brian Barnes announced.
Roselle police officers responded to Spruce Street near East 10th Avenue around 12:40 a.m. on June 20, where Bullock had drunkenly struck a parked car with his 2013 Audi S5, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Henn, who is prosecuting the case. Bullock was charged with DWI and released.
The next morning, Bullock contacted Progressive Insurance seeking an insurance policy on the Audi. Then, the following day, Bullock filed an accident claim on his new policy for the $23,586 repair bill, Ruotolo said.
Bullock noted that the crash happened at 12:38 p.m., instead of the actual time -- 12:38 a.m., authorities said.
"Bullock allegedly repeated that assertion multiple times during the application process, and after obtaining a copy of the official accident report several days later, he also allegedly digitally altered and falsified the time stamp, and then submitted it to Progressive to back his claim," the prosecutor said.
Bullock was served the criminal charges at his home on Thursday, Oct. 29, and released on his own recognizance pending a first appearance scheduled in Union County Superior Court.
“It is estimated that more than $80 billion in various forms of fraudulent insurance claims are made annually in the U.S., and those costs are unfortunately passed from the insurance companies to the consumer, driving up rates,” Ruotolo said. “That’s why we urge anyone with knowledge of a crime of this nature to please come forward and share what they know.”
October is Insurance Fraud Awareness Month, and several weeks ago, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the state Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) announced a new publicity campaign to create awareness of the crime, along with a newly designed OIFP webpage to make reporting fraud easier.
The new campaign’s slogan, “Insurance Fraud: Report It. End It,” began appearing in ads running on billboards and buses throughout the state and on cable television earlier this month, and the new web page can be viewed at www.NJInsuranceFraud.org. The web page also provides information on what constitutes insurance fraud and how to identify its various forms, including incidents of elder abuse committed against Medicaid recipients or at facilities that receive Medicaid funding.
Anyone with information about a specific instance of insurance fraud can report it anonymously by visiting the www.NJInsuranceFraud.org web page or calling the state’s toll-free hotline, 1-877-55-FRAUD. State regulations permit a reward to be paid to an eligible person who provides information that leads to an arrest, prosecution, and conviction for insurance fraud.
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