Union County Police Officer Arrested For Insurance Fraud

ELIZABETH, NJ — An Elizabeth Police Department officer has been charged with illegally collecting thousands of dollars in benefits through insurance fraud, acting Union County Prosecutor Thomas K. Isenhour announced Thursday.

Alana Velazquez, 39, of Rahway is charged with second-degree insurance fraud, third-degree theft by deception and three counts of fourth-degree uttering a forged document, Isenhour stated.

Velazquez was injured on the job in January 2016, yet her existing supplemental American Family Life Assurance Company (AFLAC) insurance policy did not cover on-duty injuries.

As a result, Velazquez sent in documents containing false and forged information to the company claiming that her injury actually occurred as the result of a covered, off-duty incident, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Rosenthal, who is prosecuting the case.

She allegedly received more than $8,600 in disability benefits to which she was not entitled.

Velazquez was served the charges at Elizabeth Police Department headquarters Wednesday morning and released pending a first appearance scheduled to take place on Sept. 27.

Velazquez could face five to 10 years in state prison if convicted on the second-degree criminal charges.

Velazquez's Attorney Joshua F. McMahon released a statement on her behalf:

"Officer Velazquez is both innocent of these baseless charges and, sadly, yet one more victim of an already out-of-control Police Director. It is no small coincidence that the Elizabeth Police Department, despite being a City that is predominantly Latino and African-American, does not have a single black officer above the rank of Sergeant, and the only reason there are any black Sergeants in Elizabeth is because the Department of Justice ordered it. Cosgrove using his political connections to carry out acts of retaliation against Officers who dare to stand up to the Director when he does wrong is nothing new.

To that end, we fully intend to explore the special relationship between Elizabeth Chief Brennan and Acting Prosecutor Isenhour, and how that special relationship and the discrimination lawsuit my client filed against Cosgrove and Brennan's Department almost two years ago impacted what UCPO and EPD have done to this mother of two children."

(Image via Elizabeth Police Department)

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