When U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett thinks about a fraud scheme that involved false police reports carried about by a Baltimore police officer, he keeps repeating one word: “Egregious.”
“You abused a position of public trust, Mr. Nelson, engaging in this scam,” Bennett told Michael Nelson, 26, a former officer whom the judge sentenced to one year in prison on Monday.
After Nelson?s attorney, Jonathan Van Hoven, argued that his client shouldn?t face incarceration because inmates might target him due to his former job, Bennett reminded the courtroom that he sentenced Edward Norris, a former Baltimore police commmissioner and Maryland State Police superintendent, to six months behind bars.
“You?re in front of the same judge who put Ed Norris in prison,” Bennett told Nelson. “… The level of fraud on the part of Mr. Norris doesn?t amount to the fraud committed by the defendant.”
Bennett also sentenced Nelson?s wife, Tierra, 24, to five months in prison followed by five months of home detention with electronic monitoring for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to create and sell false police reports of thefts and accidents to collect fees and insurance payments. The judge also ordered the defendants to pay restitution to State Farm Insurance of $10,765.06.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tonya Kowitz recommended 15-month sentences for both defendants.
The indictment against the Nelsons said that on Oct. 25, 2006, Tierra Nelson falsely reported to the Baltimore police that her husband?s personal vehicle had been stolen. The information was entered into a national crime database.
Michael Nelson reported the car stolen to State Farm and the company mailed checks to pay off the claim, prosecutors say.
The Nelsons also sold and prepared false police reports to support a false burglary claim and automobile accident claim, according to the indictment.
