Warren Woman Charged with Insurance Fraud

A King George Road resident was charged Monday with insurance fraud and forgery, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said.

Luanne Stewart-Mastroianni, 53, was charges with second-degree insurance fraud, fourth-degree forgery and fourth-degree uttering a forged document, according to a statement by Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano and Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of Detectives Stuart A. Buckman.

Prosecutor Soriano said Stewart-Mastroianni filed disability claims between Nov. 22, 2010 and Oct. 21, 2011, receiving compensation based on her jobs as a store clerk for the Village Supermarkets, of Stirling, and Green Brook School District, but that she was not eligible for benefits claimed after March 6, 2011, that she received for her position at Green Brook schools totaling $5,388.55.

The prosecutor's office began investigating Steart-Mastroianni after the case was referred to the county by the New Jersey Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. The prosecutor's office said Stewart-Mastroianni provided documentation to Central States Health and Life Company of Omaha (CSO) in December, 2010, in support of her claim for benefits for total disability, which were approved for the period of October 2010 to October 2011.

The company then followed-up on the claim, checking with the Green Brook Board of Education, which reported receiving a physician’s note dated Nov. 18, 2011, releasing Stewart-Mastroianni return to work. She did return to work Nov. 22, 2011.

However, upon checking with Village Supermarkets, CSO discovered she had returned to work beginning on March 6, 2011, and reported the matter to the state insurance fraud office.

Prosecutor Soriano said his office's Special Investgations Unit discovered Stewart-Mastroianni was released to return to work without restrictions on March 31, 2011. Investigators discovered insurance documentation after March 31, 2011, with an attending physician’s signature were allegedly forged by Stewart-Mastroianni to continue her disability. 

Stewart-Mastroianni was arrested by detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office without incident and turned over to the Somerset County Jail, with bail was set at $35,000 with a 10 percent option.