Trial date set for woman accused in insurance case scam

Daily News of Newburyport (MA)

April 25--NEWBURYPORT -- It could be another five months before the legal fate is known for a Medford woman who allegedly posed as the woman she stole from in Ipswich District Court last year.

At the Newburyport-based Ipswich court Monday morning, Judge Peter Doyle ordered Mary Kumar to return Sept. 11 for trial. However, she and her attorney are expected back next month for motion hearings related to obtaining information relative to the case.

Police say the 26-year-old former car insurance agent collected money from a customer and issued a bogus policy in exchange, then went to extreme lengths -- including posing as her victim in court -- in an attempt to cover her tracks.

Kumar faces four charges of intimidation of a witness, three counts of forgery of a document and a sole charge of identity fraud. All eight charges are based on her pretending to be her victim when she came to court in March 2016 to file motions and then stand before Doyle, according to court records.

When Kumar was arraigned in May, Doyle ordered her held on the same $200,000 cash bail already posted by her family after her arrest days earlier. In the meantime, she was ordered to stay away from Prestige Insurance of Middleton and have no contact with her alleged victim. The bail was cut in half in August after her appeal in Superior Court.

Middleton police were aware of Prestige Insurance customers who were not insured despite making regular payments, according to the report of state Trooper Michael Provost. Police also learned Kumar was the point person for customers making auto insurance payments.

Court records don't state how much money the victim paid for the bogus insurance policy.

Police first heard of Kumar when the victim was pulled over by Topsfield police on Jan. 8, 2016, for charges of operating a motor vehicle with a revoked registration and having no insurance. The woman insisted she had insurance and a valid registration, but police told her the policy was revoked months earlier.

Concerned, the woman called Kumar at Prestige Insurance, where she said she was assured by Kumar that she would make a few phone calls and straighten out the matter immediately.

While Kumar arranged a rental car for the woman, she did little else to correct the situation, according to court records. The victim contacted Kumar several more times and Kumar repeatedly assured her that she was working on getting the matter resolved.

The victim ended up receiving a court notice to appear in Ipswich District Court for arraignment on the two motor vehicle charges Feb. 11. She emailed Kumar about the summons and was told that if necessary, the court date could be extended as far as possible to allow time to sort out the mix-up.

Pretending to be the victim, Kumar sent a typed letter to the courthouse asking for an extension, stating she would be out of town, Provost's report states. The court allowed the request and the arraignment was pushed back to March 10.

On March 4, Kumar, again pretending to be the victim, went into the courthouse and asked that the arraignment be handled that day so she could get the matter over with, signing an official motion using the false name, according to the report.

Kumar then went into the courtroom, where she asked Judge Doyle to grant her motion. However, Kumar forgot to check in with the Probation Department prior to her arrival in the courtroom as required.

Kumar went to the Probation Department, where she completed an intake form that asked for her name, address, place of birth, phone number and other personal information. When a probation official asked to see identification and her Social Security number, Kumar said she didn't have any with her. She then signed the intake form under penalty of perjury.

Kumar's information was checked through the Department of Motor Vehicles, which alerted court officials the information she provided didn't match what was on file for the victim. Another probation official became suspicious and informed her that the photo on file with the DMV did not match her appearance. Kumar feigned ignorance but agreed to have her photo taken by the Probation Department for its records.

Alerted to the identification issue, Doyle continued the arraignment until May 6 to allow Kumar time to provide proper identification to the court. Kumar's photo was later shown to the Topsfield police officer who stopped the victim. He told officials the photos did not match. With this information, Doyle returned the arraignment to March 10, according to Provost's report.

When March 10 arrived, the victim did not report to court, prompting Doyle to issue a warrant for her arrest. Meanwhile, Provost was asked by the court to begin an investigation of the matter. The victim continued to contact Kumar, telling her that she was frightened and asked for help repeatedly. Kumar told the victim that her company would be assigning its attorney to help her.

On March 18, a lawyer went to the courthouse and filed a motion to remove the default warrant against the victim. When members of the District Attorney's Office informed the attorney that there was an identification issue, the attorney decided against filing the motion.

A month later, the victim was arrested on the previous warrant at her workplace in Danvers. Since it was a Friday, the victim spent three nights in jail before she was taken to Ipswich District Court on Monday morning. She was eventually released on $500 cash bail.

In late April, Topsfield and Middleton police met with Kumar and Provost. The trooper asked Kumar if she remembered the Topsfield officer and whether he had pulled her over in January. He then asked her if she visited the Newburyport courthouse in March. She stated she didn't know the officer and had not visited the courthouse on that date.

Provost then showed her the photo taken by a probation official. She admitted it was her photo but said she could not remember when and where it was taken.

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