Ex-Brick Employee Gets 5 Years In $940K Insurance Fraud: AG

BRICK, NJ — A former Brick Township employee has been sentenced to five years in prison in the theft of more than $940,000 from the township's health insurance program through fraudulent claims submitted by her brother.

Kim E. Bogan, 52, of Brick, who had worked in the township's Building Department, was sentenced in accordance with a plea agreement reached when she pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception on Oct. 24, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said.

Bogan also must pay $941,354.77 in restitution to Brick Township under the terms of the plea agreement and sentence imposed by Superior Court Judge Linda G. Baxter in Ocean County, Porrino said.

Bogan admitted that between January 2011 and April 2017 she assisted an-out-of-state health care practitioner in submitting false claims to her employee health insurance program, which is self-funded by Brick Township. The claims were for treatments purportedly rendered to individuals covered under Bogan’s policy.

That practitioner was her brother, chiropractor Glenn Scarpelli, who along with his wife Patricia died by suicide in late July. A New York Post report said the couple had signficant financial problems.

Bogan admitted she allowed her brother to submit claims on her insurance for services she knew had not been rendered and then endorsed the insurance checks when they were mailed to her, knowing the money was stolen, Porrino said.

“This defendant is going to prison for willingly participating in a health care claims scheme that cost Brick Township taxpayers – her own friends and neighbors — nearly a million dollars,” said Attorney General Porrino. “Her sentence sends a message that stealing money from health care plans is a serious crime with serious consequences, no matter what role you play in the illegal plot.”

Kim E. Bogan photo via New Jersey Attorney General's Office