ELIZABETH — A 22-year veteran of the Plainfield Police Department was convicted on a single count of 2nd Degree Insurance Fraud yesterday, Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow announced.
David Thomas, 46, of Plainfield faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on July 16.
According to the investigation, in December of 2008 Thomas filed a $3,300 claim with his insurance company for an Apple computer that he claimed had been stolen from the basement of his home on Madison Avenue in Plainfield.
Thomas said he purchased the laptop computer a day earlier at an electronics store in Union. The investigation revealed that the store was closed by court order one month before Thomas claimed he made the purchase. Furthermore, the store in question had never sold Apple products, said Romankow.
Thomas’ insurance company passed their findings to Sgt. James Russo of the UCPO Insurance Fraud Unit who launched a separate investigation. Thomas was served with a summons in June 2009 and was indicted in November 2009.
The trial, before Union County Superior Court Judge Stuart Peim lasted just one week and the jury deliberated for less than an hour.
Assistant Prosecutor James Tansey of the UCPO Insurance Fraud Unit prosecuted the case and said “it’s always a sad day when an officer commits a crime and is found guilty.”
As soon as Thomas was found guilty, Peim ordered him held on $100,000 bail at the Union County jail pending sentencing.
Thomas had been suspended from the police department without pay following his arrest.
