NYPD cop from Hempstead charged with insurance fraud, feds say

An NYPD officer from Hempstead was charged with insurance fraud in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday after officials said he collected on an arson-for-hire of his Range Rover.

Carlos Becker, 39, collected $33,000 from Geico after he falsely reported a car stolen to the Nassau County Police Department that he had arranged to have burned in 2012, a criminal complaint said. A financing company got $29,000 and he kept $4,000, the complaint said.

He may have also been involved in phony insurance claims on an Audi and a BMW, the complaint said.

The car was destroyed by two co-conspirators whom Becker failed to pay, the complaint said, and one of them talked to law enforcement and later recorded a conversation with Becker. His claim that it was stolen without his key was impossible because of anti-theft technology in the Range Rover, the government said.

Becker, a 12-year NYPD veteran, has been suspended, his lawyer said. He was detained after a court hearing Wednesday, and is due back in court on Friday. His lawyer had no comment on the charges.