Queens Man Nabbed For Selling Fake Auto Insurance Policies

A Queens man has been charged in an alleged fraudulent automobile insurance scheme in which he allegedly solicited motorists at a Queens gas station and sold fraudulent auto insurance cards and registrations to individuals with suspended registrations or cancelled insurance policies.



Willie Fulmore Jr., 59, of South Ozone Park, a former licensed New York State insurance broker, solicited motorists and sold fraudulent insurance policies from his brokerage firm when his license had been revoked for having sold fake automobile insurance.



Fulmore has been charged with 71 counts of forgery in the second degree and criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, criminal possession of forgery devices, scheme to defraud in the first degree, attempted offering of a false Instrument in the fifth degree, insurance fraud in the fifth degree, possession of stolen property in the fifth degree and violating New York State Insurance Law. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.



According to the criminal charges between May 6 nd May 24, Fulmore was posing and conducting business as a licensed auto insurance broker at his business, Feel Welcome Brokerage, at 111-06 Van Wyck Expressway -- a small private office between a repair shop and cashier’s window of a gasoline station -- and his home at 105-56 130th Street in South Ozone Park in spite of the fact that his insurance brokerage license had been revoked by the New York State Department of Insurance in July 1998 for selling fake insurance. It is alleged that the defendant was soliciting motorists at gas pumps at the gas station by handing out Feel Welcome Brokerage brochures that said “No Matter How Many Points We Insure All,” “Cancelled Policies Replaced” and “Immediate ID Cards.” According to investigators, at least several of the defendant’s customers had suspended registrations or insurance policies.



According to the criminal complaint, it is additionally alleged that the defendant sold a fraudulent auto insurance policy to an individual he believed was seeking auto insurance but was actually an NYPD undercover investigator and in exchange for $500 in cash gave the undercover a fraudulent Interboro Mutual Indemnity Insurance card. According to the New York State Insurance Frauds Department, Interboro Mutual Indemnity Insurance was placed into court-ordered rehabilitation in April 2004 and since then, has continued to renew existing policies which were in force prior to that date, but has not written any new business.



The case was referred to Queens district attorney’s by the New York State Insurance Frauds Department after it was referred to them by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Driver Program Regulation Oversight Bureau. The undercover operation was put into place after the case was referred to the district attorney’s office.



According to the district attorney’s office, detectives of the NYPD’s Auto Crime Division executed a court-authorized search warrant on May 24 at the defendant’s residence and recovered fraudulent New York temporary certificates of registration, one fraudulent New York State Veteran’s License to Hawk, Peddle and Vend Merchant license, fraudulent New York State inspection and registration stickers, 61 fraudulent North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicle temporary 30-day temporary licenses (known as tags), fraudulent US Military identification cards, fraudulent Interboro Mutual Indemnity Insurance Company insurance cards and computers and disks with templates to create the fraudulent documents.



Additionally, recovered were altered NYPD forms which relate to motor vehicles, and a pad of DMV forms which are issued by NYPD police precincts. When the defendant was apprehended shortly after he was in possession of a badge indicating that he was a “U.S. Fugitive Recovery Agent,” commonly known as a bounty hunter.



The defendant was apprehended shortly after detectives executed the search warrant at his residence. He was arraigned on the charges before Judge Robert Raciti who set $25,000 bond and $15,000 cash bail.