NYPD Officer Allegedly Set Cars On Fire In Insurance Fraud Scheme
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A New York City police officer is facing charges after allegedly setting cars on fire as part of a years-long insurance fraud scheme.
According to the complaint, Carlos Becker, of Nassau County, allegedly conspired with two other suspects to set his Range Rover on fire in September 2012 in order to collect insurance money from GEICO.
Becker's 2008 Range Rover was torched as it was parked on 139th Avenue and 231st Street in Queens, according to the complaint. Becker later reported the vehicle stolen, and was reimbursed by GEICO for the damage to the vehicle.
GEICO gave Becker two checks -- one for $29,480.86 and another for $4,780.33 -- to fill his claims.
However, further investigation revealed that Becker allegedly recruited two other unnamed co-conspirators to help him wreck the Range Rover in order to collect said insurance checks from GEICO, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges the co-conspirators were promised a fee for aiding Becker, but they had difficulty obtaining the promised fees from Becker once the act was completed.
Becker is also suspected of crashing his sister's Audi sedan in 2012, as well as setting fire to his BMW car battery in 2015 in a similar insurance fraud attempts.
He is expected in court on Friday.
