Maurice Douglas, 42, of East Orange, was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for lying about the carjacking of his Mercedes in order to collect $38,500 in insurance proceeds, state authorities said.Christopher Baxter | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
By Christopher Baxter | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 03, 2015TRENTON, NJ
An East Orange man who admitted lying about his Mercedes S-550 being carjacked at gunpoint in order to collect $38,500 in insurance was sentenced Monday to three years in prison, state authorities said.
Maurice Douglas, 42, pleaded guilty in March to insurance fraud. He admitted telling East Orange police last year that two men stole the car while he was getting out at his home, the state Attorney General's Office said.
Douglas claimed one man pointed an assault rifle at him while the other stole his cell phone. He said they then fled.
The next day, police found Douglas' car in an abandoned lot with its headlights and taillights smashed out and damage to its body and windshield, authorities said. Douglas filed a claim with his insurance company the same day.
Investigators, however, later reviewed surveillance video footage from the route Douglas claimed his assailants took and found no sign of his car or the getaway car.