Insurance Fraud

A Howard County Sheriff's Office sergeant who heads the department's criminal section has been stripped of his police powers and reassigned to administrative duties in the wake of a Baltimore County indictment charging him with insurance fraud. A Baltimore County grand jury returned the indictment, which includes two felony charges - theft over $500 and insurance fraud - against Sgt. Bryan K. Waser, 28, of Mount Airy on Jan. 30. Waser, who also serves as spokesman for the Howard sheriff's office, turned himself in at the North Point precinct Friday.

A Howard County Sheriff's Office sergeant who heads the department's criminal section has been stripped of his police powers and reassigned to administrative duties in the wake of a Baltimore County indictment charging him with insurance fraud. A Baltimore County grand jury returned the indictment, which includes two felony charges -- theft over $500 and insurance fraud -- against Sgt. Bryan K. Waser, 28, of Mount Airy, on Jan. 30. Waser, who also serves as Howard's sheriff's office spokesman, turned himself in at the North Point precinct Friday and was released on his own recognizance.

A Howard County Sheriff's Office sergeant who heads the department's criminal section has been stripped of his police powers and reassigned to administrative duties in the wake of a Baltimore County indictment charging him with insurance fraud. A Baltimore County grand jury returned the indictment, which includes two felony charges - theft over $500 and insurance fraud - against Sgt. Bryan K. Waser, 28, of Mount Airy, on Jan. 30. Waser, who also serves as Howard's sheriff's office spokesman, turned himself in at the North Point Precinct on Friday and was released on his own recognizance.

Having admitted that he stole $3 million, the former owner of a Towson title company will be tried in Baltimore County Circuit Court this spring on charges that he defrauded insurance firms and homebuyers in a scheme that cost him his reputation and his business. Edwin J. Kirby Jr., 66, of Lutherville is accused of running a pyramid scheme at Bankers Title Co. that court papers say began in 1993 and grew into one of the largest insurance fraud cases in Maryland history. State regulators shut down the business in 2000.

In Baltimore County Crane operator, 28, crushed to death in warehouse accident A 28-year-old man was crushed to death by a stack of steel rail-car wheels at a warehouse in Cockeysville yesterday morning, according to Baltimore County police. Aitor Dorronsoro, who was operating a crane at the time of the accident, was crushed by at least two steel wheels, or "trucks," when the stack in which they were piled shifted, said police Cpl. Vickie Warehime. Dorronsoro worked for Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, S.A., of Beasain, Spain, which was leasing space from AAI Corp.

In Baltimore County Pharmacy owner pleads guilty to insurance fraud TOWSON -- The owner of a Baltimore County pharmacy pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing more than $140,000 from Medicaid and private insurers by submitting bills for drugs his customers never ordered. James Kessler, 50, of Timonium pleaded guilty to one count of Medicaid fraud and one count of insurance fraud in Baltimore County Circuit Court, in a plea agreement with the Maryland attorney general's office, which prosecuted the case.

A Pasadena widow was placed on house arrest yesterday for taking out mortgage life insurance in her dead husband's name and then trying to collect on it. Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Joseph P. Manck ordered four months of house arrest followed by two years' probation with 100 hours of community service --despite his concern that Elizabeth Ann Herrmann, 43, seemed neither remorseful nor appreciative of how serious the crime was. "I'm doing it...

George F. Herrmann Jr. died in April 1995. But more than a year after his death, his widow, a Pasadena woman, applied for a mortgage life insurance policy on him and tried to collect $93,000 on it nearly two years later, the Attorney General's Office has alleged.In a three-count indictment this week, an Anne Arundel County grand jury charged Elizabeth Ann Branum Herrmann, 43, of the 300 block Nature Walk Lane, with insurance fraud and attempted theft, accusing her of submitting a claim on the policy using fraudulent documentation to say he died in April 1998.

The cantor for an Upper Park Heights synagogue could receive a five-year prison term and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced for income tax evasion and insurance fraud.Benzion Weiss, 44, who has been the cantor at Beth Jacob Congregation for more than 15 years, pleaded guilty on Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake to one count of tax evasion and one count of mail fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6.In a hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Weiss admitted not paying taxes in 1984 and submitting a false insurance claim in May 1997 to CNA Insurance Cos.He also admitted overstating the amount he received in a housing allowance, or parsonage, from Beth Jacob Congregation.

Martin R. Frankel, the Connecticut money manager suspected of defrauding insurance companies of hundreds of millions of dollars before fleeing overseas, has been captured and is in federal custody, an official with the FBI said yesterday.The circumstances of his capture were unclear last night because FBI officials withheld details of his arrest. But the official confirmed that Frankel had been arrested four months to the day after fleeing his Greenwich, Conn., mansion for Italy, where he relied on business associates, a cache of diamonds and a streak of good luck to stay a step ahead of law enforcement officials.