Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Director Anthony A. Caputo of the New Brunswick Police Department said that a 23-year member of the New Brunswick Fire Department was arrested today and charged with stealing $5,500 in bogus disability insurance claims.
Richard Patterson, 45, of New Brunswick was charged with two counts of insurance fraud, two counts of theft by deception and 14 counts each of forgery and uttering a fraudulent insurance claim form.
He also was charged with possession of prescription pills and attempting to defraud a drug test.
Bail was set at $10,000.
He was charged following an investigation by Detective Thierry Lemmerling of the New Brunswick Police Department and Detective Linda Infusino of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
During the investigation it was determined that between August 3, 2010 and October 15, 2015, the firefighter filed false insurance disability claims and forged the signatures of his physician and a superior officer in order to collect a total of $5,500.