Baldwin man sentenced to prison, fined $85G in auto-insurance scam

A Baldwin man who scammed clients by submitting hundreds of fraudulent auto insurance policies in their behalf was sentenced to up to 4 years in prison and fined $85,000, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Thursday.

Darren Downes, 33, pleaded guilty in July in Nassau County Court to first-degree scheme to defraud, first-degree identity theft and third-degree grand larceny, all felonies, according to a news release from Schneiderman's office.

He was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Anthony W. Paradiso to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison, and a judgment also was entered against Downes for an $85,000 fine, the release said.

Downes admitted to charging customers hundreds of dollars each to submit policy applications on their behalf to auto-insurance companies such as Progressive and Geico, promising to get them a better policy than they could get on their own, the release said.

He then falsified customer information, using stolen Social Security numbers, incorrect ZIP codes and fictitious professional and educational backgrounds, to obtain discounted policies.

When the insurance companies found the information on the applications was false, Downes' customers had their policies canceled or were forced to pay significantly higher premiums.

Schneiderman said Downes fraudulently obtained about $75,000 in policy application fees from customers.

"All New Yorkers pay a price for insurance fraud, which drives up premiums across the board," Schneiderman said in the release.