Charges filed against NY man who insured his cars with Pa. address

July 27--Investigators with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Insurance Task Force charged a Brooklyn, New York man with insurance fraud by falsely claiming he lived in Pennsylvania.

Steven Draghine, 30, was was also charged with two counts of theft by deception.

Draghine insured three cars with the Nationwide Insurance Company in Oct. 2015, giving his address at Hallowood Drive in East Stroudsburg, where he said the cars would mostly reside. He added some vehicles to the policy, including a 2013 BMW coupe on March 5, 2016, according to a police report.

Draghine claimed a loss on the BMW on April 26, 2016, when all four tires and wheels were stolen in Brooklyn.

Investigators began a query into the claim.

An "auto-locator" database search of scanned license plates for vehicle location data revealed about 249 matches for the insured BMW in Brooklyn, New York between Sept. 30, 2015 and March 30, 2016. The database is used for several purposes, including allowing insurers to improve pricing at underwriting and claims investigations.

Draghine was interviewed by investigators on April 8. He told them he had lived at the East Stroudsburg address for the past three to four years. He said he rented an apartment there from his aunt and worked at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn and at some construction jobs in New York. He also said he had been staying at his mother's Brooklyn home on Albany Avenue recently to care for her during an illness.

Task force Investigators made a visit to the East Stroudsburg aunt's address on April 13. The aunt told investigators Draghine did not live there, did not pay rent, nor did he have any utility bills in his name at the address. She said the last time she saw him was three months earlier.

Investigators interviewed a Brooklyn neighbor, who said Draghine lived nearby his own Brooklyn apartment.

Detectives with the task force determined that Draghine deceived Nationwide by making false and misleading statements by listing East Stroudsburg as his home address and the primary location of the car while residing in New York. They also said he reinforced that deception when he filed his loss in March 2016.

Draghine, investigators said, evaded the proper New York insurance rates by providing the false and deceptive information and received cheaper Pennsylvania rates. The amount of the theft was valued at $4,654.30.

Investigators filed charges against Draghine Monday. He was released on $10,000 unsecured bail. He faces charges of theft by deception-false impression, theft by deception-fail to correct, both felonies, and insurance/intent to defraud.

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