'Poster Boy' for insurance fraud sentenced
by Brian T. Murray
Friday November 02, 2007, 4:12 PM
http://www.nj.com
A business executive who Essex County prosecutors labeled a "poster boy" for auto insurance fraud, was ordered to spend 180 days in jail today for arranging the theft of his sports utility vehicle, but his sentence was stayed for a month.
Vincent DeVito, 34, of WatÂchung, was also fined $1,500 by SuÂperior Court Judge Ned Rosenberg in Newark, who additionally sentenced him to serve a year on proÂbation for helping to stage the theft of his 1996 Mercedes-Benz G 320 more than two years ago.
The jail term was stayed until Nov. 30 after his lawyer, Brian Neary, asked the judge to consider letting DeVito serve in an alternative program that will not leave him locked up.
''This is an otherwise very moral man who made a serious error in judgment. Every day he regrets the decision he made, and the court recognized that today. We're talking about a family man and business man who made an error in judgment," said Brian Neary, DeViÂto's lawyer.
Assistant Prosecutor Michael Morris said DeVito deserves to land behind bars because his case reflected an epidemic of cases involvÂing people dumping vehicles in urban areas in Essex and Union counties, setting them ablaze and reporting them stolen to collect in insurance money.
DeVito's pricey, wagon-style veÂhicle was found set ablaze in a gritty, industrial section of BelleÂville on June 8, 2005.
When police notified him they found his vehicle, he said he had left it parked at work in Union Township at about 9:30 that night because it had a flat tire. DeÂVito, who owns a Union Township electronics firm, claimed an emÂployee drove him home from his ofÂfice.
But when the car was found, it still had four inflated tires, a workÂing spare in the rear and a tire jack inside, according to police. ProseÂcutors also contend that anti-theft devices in the vehicle were not breached or activated.
DeVito was charged with insurÂance fraud after he filed a claim to collect $44,000 in insurance money. He was initially indicted on arson charges, but he entered a plea-deal in September, admitting to insurance fraud and attempted theft charges.
The arson charges were dropped.
Neary said that while his client admitted to arranging to have the vehicle stolen, he had nothing to do with the manner in which his vehiÂcle was disposed of in Belleville.
