Passaic County Man Sentenced to 32 Months in Prison for Defrauding NJ Turnpike Authority, Insurance Companies of $900K

Press release:

The owner of a New Jersey-based insurance adjusting company was sentenced Thursday to 32 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the N.J. Turnpike Authority (NJTA) and various insurance companies of at least $900,000, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Robert Napolitano, 55, of Clifton, and owner of Dawn to Dusk LLC, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty to an information charging him with using the mail to facilitate a scheme to defraud the NJTA and insurance companies through false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In October 2011, Napolitano reached an agreement with Gerardo Blasi, 56, of Clifton, a claims manager for the NJTA whose job it was to negotiate and recover the costs of repairs from insurance companies of motorists who caused damage to property belonging to the NJTA.

As part of the agreement, it was Napolitano’s responsibility to evaluate the damage caused by the insured motorist, create an estimate of the cost to repair the damage, and negotiate with the particular insurance company to arrive at the repair amount. Napolitano would then request that the checks issued by the insurance companies for the costs of repairing the damage be made payable to Dawn to Dusk and mailed to Napolitano’s business, Fishman said.

Once Napolitano received these checks, he would keep a portion of the proceeds for himself, provide Blasi with a share of the proceeds and sometimes send the remaining amount to the NJTA as payment for the damages caused by the insured motorist. However, on several occasions, Napolitano and Blasi simply kept all of the proceeds, according to Fishman.

As a result of this scheme, Napolitano and others defrauded the NJTA and various insurance companies of approximately $900,000.

In addition to the prison term, Napolitano was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Blasi previously pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and was sentenced on Nov. 12, 2014 to 45 months in prison and three years of supervised release.