Six charged with state insurance fraud

From left, Mills, Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois, District Attorney Frank Phillips

Five residents of Orange County and one from Ulster County have been charged with felonies involving workers compensation fraud. They all allegedly lied about being injured and not being able to work, while in fact, investigations proved they were working.

A number of state and local officials Wednesday announced the arrests at a news conference held at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills said over $30,000 was fraudulently collected by the six. Had they not been caught, over $1 million in fraudulently paid income could have been realized by them. “Insurance fraud hurts everyone; every single New Yorker pays for insurance fraud,” he said. “Workers comp fraud is one of the most frequently abused and one of the most insidious means of fraud we see in this state, and these arrests today are just the beginning.”

Officials said most insurance fraud cases are started when a member of the public tips them off. The state has an insurance fraud hotline at 1-888-FRAUD-NY.

The six charged with workers comp fraud are Christopher Miller of the Town of Newburgh, Jerome Oaddams of the City of Newburgh, John McClusky of New Windsor, Rebecca Gatto of Ellenville, and Lesli Askew (with her address blacked out on state records by authorities.

Lottery scam nets two arrests

State Police at Liberty arrested two Nigerian-Canadian citizens on charges of attempted grand larceny in the third degree for trying to pull off a lottery scam.

Police received a complaint from a Claryville man who fell victim to a scam to the tune of $7,800. The man ten received a second letter from the same “company’ advising him he was selected to win an additional $750,000 from the lottery and needed to wire an additional $7,100 in processing fees to a Western Union in Jersey City, NY.

New York State Police set up a sting operation with the assistance of West Union and Jersey City Police. Western Union alerted police when two suspects attempted to collect the $7,100 processing fee from a Western Union store in Jersey City. The men were taken into custody without incident.

Arrested and charged were Aloice Vincent, 28, of Saskatchewan, and 35-year-old William Anderson Wheatfield of Toronto.