Auto Insurance Fraud Scheme

BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
MANCHESTER — Authorities have charged five people in connection with a scheme to destroy a car by arson and collect an insurance payment for the vehicle.

Charged with aggravated arson are Richard W. Wickward, 24, of Weymouth Drive; Harvey Webb, 23, of Hunter Boulevard; and Russell M. Morgan, 30, of Jefferson Avenue, all of Pemberton Township; and Sarah L. Sutton, 19, of Highland Avenue, Rumson.

Daniel T. Cselinacz, 23, of Old Bridge falsely reported the theft of his 2005 Subaru Impreza, according to the complaint signed by Manchester Detective Joseph T. Hankins.

Cselinacz was charged in May with theft by deception and criminal attempt relative to the insurance claim he filed on the vehicle, which police say he had arranged for destruction.

Sutton and Morgan were arrested June 12. Webb and Wickward were arrested June 13.

Cselinacz arranged on April 28 to have the three men and woman steal his car in Dover Township then take it to a wildlife refuge area in Manchester and burn it, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Morgan remained in the Ocean County Jail Monday in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Webb, Sutton and Wickward were released on $50,000 bail.

The jail had no record of Cselinacz being placed there. No bail was listed in the complaint against him.

Manchester Township police were also assisted by Dover Township, Old Bridge, Pemberton, and Rumson police, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.