Contact: Beth Stone 508-584-8120
BROCKTON – The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office has been awarded $50,000 from the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts, and will continue its work with the Commissioner of Insurance to fight automobile insurance fraud in Brockton and in Plymouth County, District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz announced today.
In late 2003, after a staged accident in the city of Lawrence killed a 65 year-old woman, the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts (the “IFB”), created the Community Insurance Fraud Initiative (CIFI). The CIFI consists of specialized taskforces with local law enforcement agencies in the communities of Brockton, Boston, Chelsea, Fall River/New Bedford, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Randolph, Revere, Springfield/Holyoke and Worcester. The taskforces join IFB investigators, local police, District Attorney’s Offices, the Attorney General and insurance company investigators in the collaborative detection, investigation, prevention and prosecution of insurance fraud in the residual motor vehicle insurance market.
DA Cruz first partnered with the IFB and the Brockton Police Department in 2004. The funding delivered will supplement and support, in part, the participation of the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office in the Community Insurance Fraud Initiative. DA Cruz accepted the grant from Anthony M. DiPaolo, executive director of the IFB. The $50,000 is funded by Arbella Mutual Insurance Company, as part of a program in coordination with the Commissioner of Insurance and the IFB.
“Every one of us pays the price when someone commits insurance fraud and deliberately abuses the system,” DA Cruz said. “This joint task force has curbed auto insurance fraud significantly here in the City of Brockton and has also been a major factor in reducing premiums for policy holders around the state. We look forward to continuing this successful partnership with the Commissioner and the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts in 2021.”
IFB Executive Director DiPaolo said, “This unified task force approach to fight fraud in areas most plagued by this crime has shown it is working in 13 cities across the state. The results in Brockton remain successful, largely because the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office and the Brockton Police Department, in partnership with the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts, are dedicated to their fraud-fighting and prosecution efforts.”