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Monday, April 13, 2015

Crime sometimes pays with state pensions

Posted: Monday, April 13, 2015

When a 40-year state pension is at risk, not all crimes are treated as equal in Pennsylvania.

In 2013, former Bensalem School District head mechanic and shop foreman Frederick Lange — a 41-year district employee — pleaded guilty in Bucks County Court to felony charges of theft by unlawful taking and conspiracy for stealing district-owned tires, batteries and other auto supplies over at least a 10-year period.

He lost his job, but kept his full state pension.

The reason, according to state Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, of Upper Makefield, Lange’s felonies are not on a list of theft-related crimes that result in a Pennsylvania public worker being forced to forfeit the taxpayer-funded part of his pension.

Rep. Scott Petri

Petri wants to change that. He has proposed House Bill 17, which the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Tuesday.

The bill would close a loophole that allowed Lange and other public employees in Pennsylvania convicted of felonies to keep their full pensions.

If voted out of the committee, the bill would be scheduled for a vote on the House floor.

But even if Petri’s bill is signed into law, it would not address other loopholes in the law that allow public employees to collect full interest on their pension contributions or avoid forfeiture altogether if they withdraw the money before a conviction or plea.

At least 18 Bucks and Montgomery county public employees charged in theft or sex scandals related to their jobs since 2004 have kept their full pensions after they were either convicted or accepted into a first-time offender program, according to state data. They include most of the 14 Bensalem school employees or retirees, like Lange, who faced charges in dual corruption probes involving the theft of district-owned auto supplies and ghost employees in the grounds-keeping department.

The 1978 law known as Act 140 strips most Pennsylvania public employees and officials of their publicly funded portion of a pension if they are convicted or plead guilty/no contest to crimes connected to their jobs.

The list of 27 crimes covered under the law includes theft by deception, theft by extortion, theft of services and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received. Also included in the forfeiture list areseven sex crimes involving students. The law also includes felony offenses that are “substantially” similar to the listed crimes.

A public employee in the state can also be forced to give up individual pension contributions under the law if a court decides the money must be used to pay court costs, fines and restitution associated with a conviction related to his or her job.

Since 2004, 84 Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) members in the state had their pensions forfeited including at least eight from Bucks and eastern Montgomery county school districts, according to a PSERS spokeswoman.

Between 2009 and 2014, 72 Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) members lost the publicly funded portions of their pensions following criminal convictions that fall under Act 140. They include state workers, state police, judges, lawmakers and State System of Higher Education members.

An additional five SERS members also forfeited their pension contributions during that time span under the judicial forfeiture provisions. No county breakdowns are available.

State judiciary members also face additional provisions for forfeiture including if the member is suspended, removed or barred from holding judicial office for a conviction of a felony, misconduct in office or conduct that prejudices the proper administration of justice or brings the judicial office into disrepute, SERS spokeswoman Pamela Hile said.

‘TOO EASY’

Locally, former longtime Bucks County Register of Wills Barbara Reilly, her second deputy, Rebecca Kiefer, and employee Candace Quinn were stripped of the publicly funded portion of their pensions in 2013. The women were among four people who pleaded guilty to forcing office staff to work the polls for Republican candidates on election day and giving them off-the-books compensatory time.

At her sentencing, Kiefer said that the pension match cost her $300,000, according to reports.

Five of eight former Bucks or Montgomery county teachers convicted of engaging in sexual conduct with students since 2004 also lost the state portion of their pensions. The three ex-teachers who kept their full pensions were convicted of corruption of minors or child endangerment, which are not on the forfeiture list.

Petri, a former House Ethics Committee chairman, said his motivation to close one of the law’s loopholes, in part, stems from cases like that of former state treasurer Robert McCord. The Montgomery County Democrat pleaded guilty in February to two felony charges of attempted extortion, which is not on the list. The plea deal allowed him to keep his full state pension.

“It’s too easy for a prosecutor to make a deal for someone (with a crime) that is not on the list,” Petri said. “The game is you say, ‘OK, let’s pick something not on that (Act 140) list ... I’m a 30-years employee.’ ”

Under his proposed legislation, any criminal offense classified as a felony or one punishable by a prison term exceeding five years would be included as an offense that would result in forfeiture of the public portion and interest on a state pension if there’s a conviction. His bill also would add magisterial district judges as being covered under the law.

As with the current law, the worker would need to be convicted of a crime related to public office or their public employment; a conviction would include a guilty or no contest plea.

In researching his legislation, Petri said he found most states include felonies involving a public employee’s job as an offense that would result in forfeiture of the state portion of a pension.

Under the legislation, a public employee’s benefits would be immediately forfeited as soon as a plea of guilty or no contest or a guilty determination is made and would require the court to notify the pension plans.

“Many times we found the plan doesn’t know — unless someone tells them or they read an article — that someone has been convicted,” Petri said.

His bill also includes language ensuring that all public pension benefit systems funnel forfeited money first to victims in cases involving restitution orders, and then, whatever is left, into government coffers.

Petri said that he has a second version of his amendment that would include all crimes committed involving a state employee’s office or job, but he doesn’t believe that one would get lawmaker support.

TRUST INTERRUPTED

While Petri’s bill includes any felony and crimes punishable by a prison sentence of more than five years, it does not prevent prosecutors from negotiating guilty pleas for lesser offenses, including ones that would not be covered under Act 140, the lawmaker said. He didn’t want to tie the hands of district attorneys to negotiate deals when they believe they are appropriate, Petri said.

That kind of negotiation appears to be how two high-ranking former Bensalem School District administrators — among 14 district employees either convicted or entered into a special probation program in the 2013 theft probes — kept their pensions. Only three former district employees lost part of their pensions when they were convicted of crimes that fell under the forfeiture law, according to PSERS records.

Former business manager Jack Myers, who had nearly 41 years vested in his state pension, was initially charged with misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or financial institutions, a crime covered in the forfeiture law. But he was accepted into a special probation program for first-time nonviolent offenders, so he got to keep his full pension, according to Evelyn White, a PSERS spokeswoman.

Former Bensalem director of facilities, Robert Moseley, who had worked for the district since 1994, was also initially charged with misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or financial institutions. But after Moseley’s case reached the Court of Common Pleas, the charge was changed to theft by unlawful taking, which is not covered under the forfeiture law. He pleaded no contest, meaning he didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict.

Another way employees get around the law is by withdrawing the lump sum of their pension contributions — including interest — either before pleading guilty or a conviction, according to PSERS. And retired state employees charged with a crime can continue collecting full retirement benefits, if they meet normal eligibility, up until a guilty plea or conviction. After a conviction, they would lose the publicly funded portion of the benefit and the interest on that money.

email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Risoldis among the few to keep insurance policies after state reviews

Posted: Wednesday, April 8, 2015
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department rarely forces private insurance companies to reinstate canceled homeowners or personal property policies like it did three times with the Risoldis, who are accused in a $20 million insurance fraud scheme, according to department data.

Last year, for example, only 22 of the 1,561 cancellation reviews the department’s Consumer Services Bureau conducted — fewer than 2 percent — resulted in an insurer that had met all procedural cancellation criteria being told to reinstate policy coverage, the data shows.

Most of the time after such reviews, the Consumer Services Bureau sided with insurances companies that canceled homeowner and personal property policies. Roughly 60 percent, or 904 of the 1,561 complaints filed, resulted on the side of an insurance company following a full review.

Another 158 cases concluded with an insurance company rescinding a termination request, and 110 cases resulted in the companies ultimately reinstating the policy on their own, according to the data.

Consumer Services reviewers may also side with the customer – as it did in 367 cases in 2014 – because the cancellations were deemed “deficient.” That happens when a cancellation is found to be untimely, meaning the insurer failed to follow procedural rules, such as providing 30 days notice before canceling a policy and disclosing evidence and reasons for a cancellation.

The issue of insurance cancellations emerged earlier this week during a preliminary hearing for members of the Risoldi family and two others accused of filing false insurance claims and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud in connection with three fires at the family’s 10-acre Buckingham estate known as Clairemont.

An adjuster for the family’s insurance company, AIG, testified that the company attempted three times to drop the Risoldi family as clients, since the first fire at Clairemont in 2009. But the state insurance department wouldn’t allow it after complaints from Claire Risoldi, the 67-year-old socially prominent family matriarch.

AIG paid the Risoldis $1.8 million for damage and replacement costs after a 2009 fire, more than $8 million following a 2010 fire, and $10 million, so far, after the most recent fire in 2013. The family has filed a civil suit against AIG seeking an additional $10 million in unpaid claims.

An insurance department spokeswoman confirmed that its Consumer Services Bureau refused to allow AIG to cancel the Risoldis’ homeowners and other property coverage three times, but the specific details about why it sided with the family are not public information. The department also does not disclose the names of bureau employees involved in right of review proceedings.

“I cannot discuss why AIG was not permitted to cancel the Risoldis’ policy,” spokeswoman Alison Fogarty said.

AIG appealed the state insurance department’s decision only after the 2013 cancellation attempt, and that review is still pending before the Administrative Hearings Office, she added.

An AIG spokesman from the company’s New York office declined comment on the appeal Wednesday, citing the pending litigation.

The purpose of the right of review is to ensure that consumers are not arbitrarily dropped from a policy, Fogarty said. Insurance companies cannot “preemptively” cancel a policy when an investigation is ongoing.

“This is designed as a consumer protection process,” Fogarty added. “If the company’s notification is deemed deficient for any reason, the department advises the company to continue the policy.”

There is no timeline for an average cancellation review because individual circumstances unique to each case must be taken into account, Fogarty said. With the Risoldis’ pending criminal proceedings, the hearing process could possibly be delayed, she added.

None of the Risoldis or co-defendants — private investigator Mark Goldman, 54, of Wayne, and fabric vendor Richard Holston, 51, of Medford Lakes, New Jersey — is charged with arson in connection with the fires, which were each ruled “undetermined” as to the cause by Buckingham’s fire marshal.

The charges against Claire Risoldi, her daughter, Carla Risoldi, 48, of Solebury, her son, Carl A. Risoldi, 43, his wife, Sheila, 44, and Goldman were held for trial Wednesday in connection with the insurance fraud case. Holston’s preliminary hearing was continued, and Roth will make a separate determination on his charges.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Adjuster: Home insurer AIG trying to drop Risoldis since

Posted: Monday, April 6, 2015

An AIG insurance adjuster testified the company tried to drop the Risoldi family as clients ever since 2009, following the first of what would be three fires at the family’s Buckingham estate.

James O’Keefe told a Bucks County District Court judge Monday that the insurer paid out $1.8 million for the first fire, more than $8 million in 2010 for the second and $10 million in 2013 for the third. Each time, the company canceled the policy, he said. And each time, defendant Claire Risoldi complained to the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance, which sided with the family, O’Keefe added.

The three fires occurred at Clairemont, the Georgian-style mansion that was home to Risoldi, 67, her late husband Tom French, Claire’s son Carl A. Risoldi, 43, his wife, Sheila, 44, and their two children. Carl A. Risoldi owns the property with his sister, attorney Carla V. Risoldi, of Solebury. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has charged the Risoldis and two co-defendants with orchestrating a more than $20 million insurance fraud related to the fires.

O’Keefe, testifying on the fifth day of the defendants’ preliminary hearing, said he became involved in the Risoldis’ 2013 fire damage claim after Claire Risoldi had disagreements with Anthony Amoroso, an AIG adjuster who investigated the earlier fires and who testified last week. The disagreements included Claire Risoldi’s lack of documentation with the fire claims, O’Keefe said.

“Claire told me Anthony was never being fair with her,” O’Keefe said before before the hearing recessed for the day.

Testimony before District Judge C. Robert Roth, of Quakertown, is expected to conclude Tuesday and a decision is expected about whether part — or all — of the prosecution’s case will move forward for a trial in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.

The four Risoldis, private investigator Mark Goldman, 54, of Wayne, and fabric vendor Richard Holston, 51, of Medford Lakes, New Jersey, are charged with filing false insurance claims and criminal conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. French was among the accused, but he committed suicide Feb. 5 and left notes purportedly written by him that maintained his innocence.

None of the defendants are charged with arson; Buckingham’s fire marshal ruled the cause of each fire “undetermined.”

The fire marshal, James Kettler, testified Monday to finding six similarities between the 2010 and 2013 fires at the mansion: time of day (around lunchtime); location (attic dormers); method of notifying fire department (alarm system); no one home at the time the fire was reported; Claire Risoldi was the last person seen leaving the house; and “multiple” cases of aerosol hairspray found in the house, near where the fire started.

In addition, Kettler testified that he saw French inside a second floor bedroom before the 2013 fire was out, and ordered him out of the house. The fire marshal later learned from a fire chief that Carl A. Risoldi was also inside the house before the fire was out.

None of the Risoldis or French asked to enter the building while firefighters were fighting the blaze, Kettler added. And no one from the family mentioned anything about missing jewelry, either, he said.

The first time Kettler said he heard anything about missing jewelry was about five weeks after the 2013 fire, when a Buckingham supervisor noticed a flier alleging a jewelry theft. When Kettler checked the phone number on the flier, he said it belonged to Goldman.

“I was very surprised. Shocked,” Kettler testified. “I had not heard about any type of jewelry theft up to that point.”

Following the 2013 fire, the Risoldi family falsely accused volunteer firefighters of stealing jewelry, according to the grand jury and several firefighters who testified last week.

The day after that fire, Kettler said that he spoke with Carl A. Risoldi about possible causes, and asked if his mother, Claire, could possibly be involved.

“He was very upset and emphatically said he didn’t think she was involved in the fire,” Kettler said, describing Carl’s anger level as going from a “five to a 12” after he had asked if Claire could be involved.

Carl Risoldi soon calmed down after Kettler said he was doing his job as a fire investigator, adding, “it was a difficult question but we needed to know.”

After filing his 2013 fire investigation report, Claire Risoldi asked him to change the findings, claiming his report was the only one that said the cause was “undetermined” and “he had to change it,” Kettler testified.

Several days after that fire, Kettler added that Claire Risoldi confronted him “yelling and screaming” and vowing to use “all her $80 million to get him fired,” Kettler said. He said Claire Risoldi got within inches of his face during the confrontation, and Carl Risoldi stepped between the two in an attempt to calm his mother.

Eventually she calmed down, and apologized and hugged Kettler, he said, adding that Carl Risoldi never threatened him or gave him a hard time about doing his fire investigation.

On cross-examination, Kettler testified that other items were also stored in the attic, besides the cases of hairspray, but they were too damaged to identify. He also testified that he did not ask anyone in 2010 or 2013 how long the cases of hairspray were stored in the attic.

Defense attorney Jud Aaron, who represents Claire Risoldi, posed several questions to Kettler about whether he agreed that Claire Risoldi wears hairspray almost every day.

“I’m not a hair stylist,” Kettler replied. “I’m a fire marshal. I don’t know hair care products.”

Also Monday, two soot-stained canvas bags containing empty jewelry boxes were emptied onto a courtroom table.

State Attorney General Special Agent Louis Gomez testified that the boxes, which contained jewelry when they were found, were discovered when authorities executed search warrants in Claire Risoldi’s rented Danielle Drive home in Buckingham in November 2014. Gomez recalls the day he went to retrieve the items.

“She (Claire) said it was a political ploy and she would sue every single person in her residence at that time,” Gomez testified.

None of the jewelry from boxes was reported stolen, Gomez testified, a point the defense emphasized.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Bucks' unique program gives first-time adult offenders a second chance

Posted: Monday, April 6, 2015
Editor’s note: Calkins Media was granted access to a recent Community Accountability Program hearing on the condition that participant names and other identifying details were not disclosed.

This Bucks County courtroom had no lawyers, but there were five “judges,” including a general contractor, a marketing expert and a college student.

They sat behind a foldout table in a meeting room where Warwick officials normally conduct township business. But twice a month the room is turned into a people’s court, where justice is served to those accused of minor crimes that could cause major damage to their careers, futures and lives.

On a recent Thursday evening, panelists heard from a man accused of shoplifting fried chicken as well as a 30-something and a high school senior, both accused of marijuana possession.

The accused men were picked to take part in a unique adult pre-trial intervention program — the only one in Pennsylvania — that gives first-time, nonviolent offenders a second chance to make amends without entering the formal criminal justice system.

The Bucks County Community Accountability Program, or CAP, quietly rolled out in 2013 in Upper Bucks as an alternative to the more formal Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, a probation program for first-time nonviolent offenders that also can end with the expungement of criminal records. Since then, five Central Bucks panels started hearing cases six months ago, and the four newly trained Lower Bucks CAP panels received their first referrals in March.

While the program is relatively new, available statistics from the Upper Bucks panel, which meets twice a month, are encouraging, said Bucks County Assistant District Attorney Monica Furber, who oversees the program. Among 112 individuals who applied for CAP, 85 successfully completed it. The remaining individuals were either rejected or failed to complete the program.

CAP is less expensive for offenders and offers a shorter probation time than ARD. Local police refer potential cases to the District Attorney’s Office, which screens and approves applicants, Bucks County Chief of Prosecution Matt Weintraub said. Individuals charged with certain low-level summary or misdemeanors are eligible, but not those arrested on DUI or suspected heavy drug users.

Bucks County Judge Rea Boylan came up with the idea, which is modeled after Youth Aid Panels that use community volunteers to review cases and recommend appropriate consequences outside the juvenile legal system.

“It’s a great idea. People deserve a second chance,” said Bensalem Sgt. Keith Kristy, the police liaison for the four Lower Bucks CAP panels. “If somebody makes a mistake, it shouldn’t haunt them the rest of their lives.”

CLEAN SLATE

Before starting each hearing, Susan McManus, chairwoman of the Central Bucks Panel D, reads an opening statement explaining how CAP works.

The members will ask questions not only about the crime (participants admit to the crime as a condition of admission into CAP), but a person’s home, work and school life. They’ll ask about the person’s friends, habits, hobbies, interests. Afterward, the panel meets privately to decide the consequences, which can include writing letters, restitution and community service.

Participant answers are kept confidential, as long as the person does not express intention for self-harm or harming others. Even the probable cause affidavits that outline the arrest details are collected and returned to police at the end of each panel meeting to protect participants’ privacy.

“This is your chance to wipe your slate clean,” McManus explained to the 24-year-old who stole about $20 worth of fried chicken and a drink on two separate supermarket trips.

Panel members already know a little bit about the man from the police officer who recommended him for CAP. The officer said the man immediately admitted to stealing when he was confronted. While the crime may sound petty, the officer wants the person to stop before it gets worse.

Panel: Why did you take the food?

“I honestly don’t know,” the man said.

Panel: Did you know it was wrong?

“I wasn’t really thinking much when it happened,” he answered.

The man said he lives with his parents and works for a family business. He likes his job. He’s also studying design in college. For fun he mostly hangs out with his friends, and occasionally goes to a bar.

Panel: Do your friends know about your arrest?

He told them he was charged with a traffic violation. He was too ashamed to tell them the truth.

How do you feel about what you did, asked Bill Clark, who works in title insurance.

“I felt bad, nauseous, embarrassed, very embarrassed,” he said, before adding he has self-esteem problems.

“I bet you’ve got a good heart,” Clark said. “Feel good about yourself.”

Following deliberations, the panel decided that he has to write a letter of apology to the supermarket manager, a thank-you letter to the officer who recommended him for CAP and reimburse the supermarket.

Like everyone who appears before CAP, the man must remain drug and alcohol free while still in CAP.

He has 60 days in the program — the typical length is 30 to 90 days. He will work with a panel member who is assigned as a de facto probation officer. The member is responsible for ensuring the completion of the contract the man signed outlining his required tasks.

If the tasks are completed, the criminal case is immediately expunged. If not, it is kicked back into the formal criminal legal system.

BEYOND PUNISHMENT

Retail thefts such as the teen’s are among the most common cases heard by CAP panels, according police and CAP panel members. Both the upper and central Bucks panels average four to six referrals a month, police said.

“These are not career criminals but a lot of times there is a stressor going on in their lives,” said Lisa Gaier, a Quakertown lawyer who chairs one of the two Upper Bucks CAP panels. “These offenders are not the classic criminals. That is why the program works.”

Like the 46-year-old woman who shoplifted a package of hot dogs to feed her children, Gaier said. The woman had never been arrested before, but she was desperate. She didn’t know about local food banks or soup kitchens. She was too embarrassed to ask for help.

As part of her consequences, the panel helped her access social services, Gaier said. Today, the woman volunteers at a local food bank.

Another recent case involved a young woman who became suicidal after her arrest, Gaier said. Panel members were able to immediately connect her with crisis intervention.

One way to look at the idea behind CAP is that it takes a community to rehabilitate a first-time offender, said Weintraub, from the DA’s office.

“If you have a minor offender, it would be good to have members of the community oversee that person’s rehabilitation,” he said. “If community is involved, there is more of an incentive to stay out of trouble.”

While the main purpose of CAP is preventing recidivism, the ability to also help individuals access resources such as support groups or social services, is a bonus, Weintraub said.

“If along the way we can help these people isn’t that a wonderful thing,” he said.

HERE WE ARE

The second and third cases before Panel D that night involved the individuals caught smoking marijuana.

The first man, in his 30s, was a professional cook caught by a cop.

“I know it’s wrong,” he told the panel. “And here we are. It is what it is.”

Once panel members started asking questions, they learned the man recently lost several close family members. He claimed that he started smoking marijuana again to relieve his grief, he said. His roommates are always on his case about smoking it in the house.

Panel members asked if he thought about the repercussions of smoking marijuana.

Not until he was arrested, the man answered. That’s when he realized that he could lose not only his recent promotion at work, but his job and career.

“Is it worth throwing that away?” Clark asked. “Looks like you realize that.”

The case is a tough one, McManus told the group during their deliberations. The man appeared smart, remorseful and spoke about his high standards in his work. Fashioning his penalty presented a challenge since it appeared this was a one-time judgment error.

“Why should a kid like this have a record?” Clark said.

Panel members expressed similar sentiments during deliberations for the third offender, an 18-year-old high school senior, a promising athlete whose marijuana possession arrest could jeopardize his college scholarship.

No, this wasn’t the first time he smoked pot, the teen said, but he claimed he started his senior year caving to peer pressure. He said he has no plans to smoke again.

“(The arrest) was very scary,” he said.

“I bet it was,” McManus commented.

The panel asked how his parents reacted to his arrest?

He said he was grounded for three weeks and he now undergoes regular drug testing.

“I’ll never touch it again,” he added.

In the end, both men received similar punishments. They had to write thank-you notes to the officers who recommended their cases to CAP and perform community service.

The panel wanted the older man to look into grief counseling, and a few panelists whipped out smartphones to search for local bereavement support groups. They gave him 90 days to complete his tasks.

The younger man was told to write an apology to his parents and a report on what the policies and consequences are for getting caught using drugs or alcohol at the college he plans to attend. His CAP involvement will last 60 days.

LIFE CHANGER

When the Quakertown police chief first explained the CAP program to his officers, patrolman Robert Lee was among the skeptics.

“We all thought, OK adults? But when you start to think about it, they’re all first-time offenders. Eighteen is just a number sometimes, they act like 12 or 14,” said Lee, who oversees the Upper Bucks program.

But after Lee started sitting in on cases, he found striking similarities between CAP and Youth Aid panels, most notably that there is more going on in the lives of offenders beyond the crime.

Another benefit of CAP is that it’s a new option for high school students who are 18 and charged with underage drinking, another popular referral. Youth Aid panels are available only to those under 18.

“I still believe mistakes happen. I still believe every one deserves a second chance, I really do,” Lee said. “Three quarters of them do learn, it’s a wakeup call.”

Gaier, the Upper Bucks chair, agrees. Of the dozens of cases she has overseen over the last two years she recalled only two offenders who violated the CAP terms.

“There are times I see them in the community afterward and they are grateful,” she added. “It can be a life-changer.”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Risoldis among the few to keep insurance policies after state reviews

Posted: Wednesday, April 8, 2015

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department rarely forces private insurance companies to reinstate canceled homeowners or personal property policies like it did three times with the Risoldis, who are accused in a $20 million insurance fraud scheme, according to department data.

Last year, for example, only 22 of the 1,561 cancellation reviews the department’s Consumer Services Bureau conducted — fewer than 2 percent — resulted in an insurer that had met all procedural cancellation criteria being told to reinstate policy coverage, the data shows.

Another 158 cases concluded with an insurance company rescinding a termination request, and 110 cases resulted in the companies ultimately reinstating the policy on their own, according to the data.

The Risoldi family heads into court

“I cannot discuss why AIG was not permitted to cancel the Risoldis’ policy,” spokeswoman Alison Fogarty said.

AIG appealed the state insurance department’s decision only after the 2013 cancellation attempt, and that review is still pending before the Administrative Hearings Office, she added.

An AIG spokesman from the company’s New York office declined comment on the appeal Wednesday, citing the pending litigation.

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia

Falls police officer, three others injured in 3 car accident

Posted: Monday, March 30, 2015

A 32-year-old Falls police officer was treated and released early Monday for injuries sustained after he was struck by at least two vehicles — his unmarked police car and one he had pulled over — that were plowed into by a third car driven by a suspected drunken driver on Route 1 Sunday night, police said.

Thomas Lundquist, an eight-year veteran of department, was working a traffic enforcement detail along northbound Route 1 near the Route 13 exit around 10:45 p.m. when the car driven by a 28-year-old Trenton man slammed into his patrol car, pushing it into the vehicle that was pulled over, police said Monday. Both cars then hit the officer, throwing him to the ground, police said.

Lundquist suffered minor injuries to his right wrist and ankle.

The Courier Times is not identifying the driver of the car that struck the other cars because he has not been charged with a crime. Police said they are awaiting blood test results to see if he was driving while intoxicated. He is listed in serious condition at Helene Fuld campus of Capitol Health Systems in Trenton, Lt. Todd Pletnick said.

Three people inside the car that Lundquist stopped also were treated and released for minor injuries, Pletnick said. Police initially believed four people were in the car.

The driver of the striking car was the most seriously injured after his head went through the windshield of the car, authorities said.

All three cars involved in the accident were in the northbound lanes of Route 1, near the Route 13 exit, police said. The accident closed northbound Route 1 for about two hours.

The officer who was struck was standing by the driver’s side of the car he had just pulled over for speeding when the third vehicle — also northbound on Route 1 — struck the rear of the unmarked patrol car. As the vehicle spun around, the officer was caught between all three vehicles and thrown to the ground, police said.

Lundquist is a K-9 officer, but the dog was not in the car because the officer's regular marked SUV was out of commission.

The stretch of highway often attracts speeders, Lt. Hank Ward said. The car that the officer had pulled over was traveling at more than 90 mph, he said.

“We were very lucky that our officer has the minor injuries that he does,” Ward said. “This is a very bad highway for us. We do a lot of traffic enforcement up here and it’s very common for vehicles to be traveling at 100 miles plus in this area.”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia