Business owner admits insurance fraud [The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.]

Dec. 29--PEABODY -- A Swampscott man who ran a Peabody auto glass repair business admitted yesterday to filing nearly $30,000 worth of phony insurance claims for work he didn't do.

Robert Giller, 53, pleaded guilty in Salem Superior Court to a total of 40 counts, including 20 counts of filing false insurance claims, 18 counts of felony larceny and two counts of attempted larceny.

Judge David Lowy sentenced Giller to nine months of unsupervised probation and ordered that he pay a total of $37,188 in restitution -- something Giller's attorney, Tom Drechsler, said would be done by Tuesday.

Assistant Attorney General Brendan O'Shea, who had asked for a year of probation, told the judge that over the course of a three-year period between 2006 and 2009, Giller filed 20 claims with four insurance companies -- Safety Insurance, Electric Insurance, Fireman's Fund and Plymouth Rock Assurance -- for work he claimed was performed on cars at New England Glass Co.

That was one of two businesses in Peabody that Giller owned; the second business, Advanced Automotive Concepts, specialized in auto repairs and improvements, O'Shea told the judge.

Giller submitted claims totalling more than $28,000 on the policies of 14 different customers, including well-known former Peabody High football coach Ed Nizwantowski and his wife, Patty, claiming he had done more work on their vehicles than he actually did, according to the indictments. None of the customers is accused of any wrongdoing.

He also submitted claims under both his own and his wife's insurance policies, according to the indictments.

Nearly all were paid by the insurance companies -- until late 2009, when two of the insurance companies became suspicious of the claims.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau, an investigative agency that works with state prosecutors on such cases, began an investigation that led to Giller's indictment last year.

Drechsler said his client, a father of three, was a model citizen who coached Little League and had no run-ins with the law until the indictment.

He also said Giller and his wife are responsible for the "constant care" of a 22-year-old developmentally disabled son, whom they brought with them to court yesterday.

Drechsler suggested that Giller's plea also spared the state the expense of a lengthy trial.

Lowy said that while Giller was accepting responsibility and making full restitution, the case is more serious than it might appear.

"Everybody's insurance rates are impacted, and the integrity of the insurance system is jeopardized by acts like these," the judge said.

Courts reporter Julie Manganis may be reached at 978-338-2521 or at [email protected].

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