Rasheedah Dunell. (Photo courtesy of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office)
Rasheedah Dunell. (Photo from MySpace)
Black N.J. woman convicted of insurance fraud in Coach bus crash
updated March 10, 2017 at 5:34 AM
NEWARK, NJ --
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that Rasheedah Dunell, 48, of Newark has been convicted of 3rd degree insurance fraud, following a trial before the Honorable Peter Ryan, Judge of the Superior Court.
An Essex County jury has convicted a 48-year-old woman of fraudulently claiming to an insurance company that she was injured in a bus crash.
Rasheedah Dunell, of Newark, had claimed she sustained neck and back injuries when she was thrown against the rear of a Coach USA bus she was riding when it was involved in a minor accident on Aug. 12, 2011, on South Orange Avenue, acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray said in a statement Thursday.
But the jury found Dunell guilty of third-degree insurance fraud after video footage from the bus showed Dunell was sitting calmly in her seat at the time of the crash, laughing with another passenger, according to Assistant Prosecutor John Russell, who tried the case.
Authorities said Dunell is scheduled to be sentenced on April 3.
The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.