55-year-old Robert Napolitano of Clifton, NJ, owner of Dawn to Dusk insurance adjusting company, has received a hefty prison term for his role in a fraud scheme which succeeded in defrauding the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, along with multiple insurers, out of more than $900,000.
According to Claims Journal, prosecutors discovered that Napolitano “instructed insurers whose motorists had damaged turnpike property to send checks made out to his firm, Dawn to Dusk.” Napolitano should have then forwarded the funds to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, but instead, he pocketed some (sometimes all) of the money.
How did he get away with not paying the state authority? Because he kicked back a share of each payment to former turnpike authority claims manager, Gerardo Blasi.
Napolitano is headed to federal prison for 32 months, with an additional three years of supervised release after his discharge.
Blasi plead guilty in the case last year and was sentenced to federal prison in November of 2014 for 45 months.