Former NYPD Officer From L.I. Sentenced For Insurance Fraud

Carlos Becker, 40, a former police officer with the New York City Police Department and Hempstead resident, was sentenced Thursday morning to two years in prison for submitting a false insurance claim after directing accomplices to burn his car.

On Jan. 10, Becker pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud GEICO. Becker was also ordered to pay $34,261.19 in restitution to GEICO.

In September 2012, Becker, while employed as a police officer with the NYPD, directed accomplices to set fire to his Range Rover so that he could file a fraudulent insurance claim with GEICO and collect the insurance proceeds. During the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2012, Becker’s accomplices set fire to the Range Rover
on a residential street in Queens. New York City firefighters responded to a 911 call about the fire and put it out.

Becker then submitted a fraudulent claim to GEICO, claiming that the Range Rover had been stolen from a parking space in front of his house in Hempstead, and that the car was later found burned. Based on his fraudulent claim, in January 2013, GEICO mailed two checks to Becker in the amounts of $29,480.86 and $4,780.33.

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