Verdict In Nunez Insurance Fraud Case

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — A man who pretended to be CIA and who faces charges related to false statements on a pistol permit application was convicted Tuesday in connected to an insurance fraud.

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that Gilberto Nunez, 49, of Poughkeepsie, was convicted of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree, and five counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, all of which are felonies, following a jury trial before Ulster County Court Judge Donald A. Williams.

At the trial prosecutors argued that Nunez had stolen $8,400 from the Preferred Mutual Insurance Company by filing false documents in support of his claim for payment on an insurance policy for a Feb. 20, 2014 fire occurring a building he owned at 381-385 Washington Ave., in Kingston. In those false documents Nunez claimed that he had lost rental income due to the fire. Prosecutors argued that in fact that building had no paying tenants at the time of the fire.

Nunez had previously been convicted of two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, after a previous jury trial before Judge Williams which had occurred in June 14, 2016. Nunez faces a maximum sentence of 2 1/3 to 7 years in state prison for each of those convictions. It was proven at that trial that Nunez had possessed, with intent to defraud, a false CIA identification card and false letter purportedly from the CIA.

The Orange County District Attorney had been appointed as Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the charges which were the subject of those two trials, as well as charges pertaining to false statements Nunez allegedly has made while applying for a pistol permit. Nunez is currently charged with Perjury in the First Degree and Making an Apparently False Statement in connection with the false statements on the pistol permit application. Nunez is next scheduled to appear in Ulster County Court on Nov. 10, in connection with a pre-trial hearing on those charges.

Hoovler thanked the City of Kingston Police Department, the Town of Ulster Police Department for their arrest and investigation of the case. Hoovler also thanked the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for their assistance in the investigation.

“I am pleased that the jury credited the evidence in this case, which I believe clearly supports the jury’s determination that this defendant falsified documents to obtain an insurance payment to which he was not entitled,” said Hoovler. “It is clear that this jury carefully considered all of the evidence in reaching their determination that Nunez was guilty of all the crimes charged in this indictment.”

Nunez, a dentist whose practice was in the City of Kingston, faces a maximum term of 2 1//3 to 7 years in prison on each count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree, and a maximum term of 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison on each of the five counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.

Hoovler highly commended Senior Assistant District Attorney Maryellen Albanese and Assistant District Attorney Tanja Beemer for their handling of these matters.

A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the State of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.