TRENTON – Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor announced that a Camden County father of twin boys has been sentenced to three years in prison for submitting more than $140,000 in fraudulent claims for hospital stays the boys never had.
Steven Herder, 41, of Lindenwold, must also pay $140,000 in restitution to his insurer, American Family Life Assurance Company (“Aflac”), under the sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge John T. Kelly in Camden County.
Last month Herder pleaded guilty to second-degree insurance fraud for filing five false claims with Aflac between June 2012 and November 2014. The boys were aged 6 months to 3 years old when the claims were submitted.
“Lying to your insurance carrier is not the path to easy money, it’s the path to prison,” said Attorney General Porrino. “Filing false claims is a serious crime and those who get caught will face serious consequences, as this defendant has learned.”
“The jail time imposed upon this defendant is a fitting punishment for the kind of brazen insurance fraud he committed,” said Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Christopher Iu. “Such fraud drives up insurance costs for everyone and will not be tolerated.”
The false claims submitted by Herder sought payment for five stays – ranging from 11 weeks to 26 weeks – at Virtua West Jersey Hospital in Voorhees for one or the other of his twin boys. Herder forged three doctors’ signatures on the fake hospital records, which he had manufactured on a computer, according to prosecutors.
Aflac paid approximately $140,000 in total for four of the claims and denied the fifth, valued at $30,250.
Deputy Attorney General Colin Keiffer represented the state at sentencing. Detectives Kristi Procaccino, Megan Flanagan, and Kahlil McGrady coordinated the investigation. Assistant Bureau Chief Christina Runkle and Analysts Theresa Worthington and Terri Drum assisted the investigation. Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Iu thanked Aflac’s Special Investigations Unit for their assistance in the investigation.
John K Conner, Esq., of The Conner Law Group, represented Herder at sentencing.
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Iu noted that some important cases have started with anonymous tips. People who are concerned about insurance cheating and have information about a fraud can report it anonymously by calling the toll-free hotline at 1-877-55-FRAUD, or visiting the Web site at www.NJInsurancefraud.org. 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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