Bergen County Couple Allegedly Filed False Superstorm Sandy Claim, Charged With Fraud

Two Bergen County residents were indicted Monday for allegedly filing false insurance claims and a false bankruptcy application, which lead to them receiving more than $228,000, authorities said.

Katreecea Cline, 46, and her husband, Stevie Mitchell, 44, of Elmwood Park where named in a seven-count grand jury indictment Monday, said New Jersey Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

Cline was charged with two counts of insurance fraud, theft by deception, attempted theft by deception, and forgery, Hoffman said. Mitchell and Cline were charged with fraud in insolvency and unsworn falsification to authorities.

“It is extremely deplorable that this couple took advantage of a natural disaster, one that caused such tremendous loss for so many victims, to cheat their insurance company,” Hoffman said in a statement. “This type of conduct drives up the cost of insurance premiums for honest homeowners.”

Cline allegedly submitted property damage insurance applications to the United States Automobile Association from October 2012 and November 2013 claiming her Elmwood Park apartment, her son’s Harrison dorm room, and property stored at her brother’s Keansburg home were damaged due to Superstorm Sandy, Hoffman said. USAA paid Cline $53,800.

Cline and Mitchell filed a bankruptcy petition in November 2012 claiming they owed nearly $210,000 in debt to various creditors and only $36,900 in assets. A federal bankruptcy court judge discharged approximately $175,000 worth of the couple’s alleged debt in February 2013, Hoffman said.

The Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP) determined that Cline’s insurance claims were fictitious and fraudulent documents were submitted to support them, Hoffman said. Authorities discovered that Cline and Mitchell did not report they had an account with Metabank.

OIEF alleges that the couple defrauded more than $230,000 as a result of the filings.

(Pictured: Stevie Mitchell and Katreecea Cline/Courtesy of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office)