Newark Police Officer Charged With Falsely Reporting
Vehicle Stolen To Collect Insurance
TRENTON – A Newark police officer has been charged with
falsely reporting to police that his vehicle was stolen and fraudulently
collecting $10,791 from the company that insured the vehicle, Attorney General
Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced.
Suliaman Kamara, 30, of Newark, an officer with the Newark
Police Department, was charged by complaint-summons with third-degree theft by
deception and tampering with public records or information, also a third-degree
offense. He surrendered to detectives from the State Police Official Corruption
Bureau today for processing on the charges.
Kamara allegedly filed a report with the Newark Police
Department on Feb. 23, 2009, stating that his 2003 GMC Yukon had been stolen,
when, in fact, he knew that it had not been stolen. It is alleged that he filed
a fraudulent claim related to the purported theft with his insurer, Liberty
Mutual Insurance Company, which paid him a total of $10,791, including $9,744
for the vehicle, $477 for property he reported stolen inside the vehicle, and
$570 for a rental car. Nearly three years later, a representative of Liberty
Mutual spotted the vehicle outside Kamara’s residence and alerted authorities.
The State Police located the 2003 GMC Yukon, bearing a license plate from
another vehicle, parked outside of Kamara’s residence on March 14, and executed
a search warrant, confirming that it was the vehicle that Kamara had reported
stolen.
Kamara was a Newark Police Officer at the time of the
alleged criminal conduct. He was initially hired by the police force in July
2008, but was laid off in November 2010. He was subsequently rehired in March
2012. The Newark Police Department suspended Kamara after the complaint was
filed against him yesterday.
Third-degree crimes carry a sentence of three to five years
in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000. The complaint is merely
an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Because the charges are indictable offenses, they will be presented to a state
grand jury for potential indictment. Kamara was released on his own
recognizance after being processed on the charges.