MARYLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL JOSEPH CURRAN ANNOUNCES:
BALTIMORE POLICE OFFICER SENTENCED FOR INSURANCE FRAUD

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., announced today that Tamira Thompson, of the 5300 block of Deale Churchton Road in Anne Arundel County was sentenced in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County for felony insurance fraud. The conviction and sentence follows a joint investigation conducted by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Office of the Attorney General. The Baltimore City Police Department employs Thompson as a police officer. She had been suspended by the department without pay since October 12, 2004 following her indictment. She had been convicted of engaging in a continuing course of conduct between October 15, 2003 and November 20, 2003 in which she knowingly presented false information to Progressive Insurance Company in an attempt to support a false claim for $3,014.20.

Evidence presented by the prosecutor included that on October 15, 2003, Thompson reported to Progressive Insurance Company that on that date she had struck a light pole and damaged the front of her 1991 Acura Legend which, she said, she had purchased five days earlier. An inspection of Thompson’s vehicle by a Progressive Insurance Company adjuster on October 15, 2003 found damage to the vehicle that was inconsistent with Thompson’s description of the accident. In a statement Thompson gave to Progressive Insurance Company Thompson claimed to have purchased the automobile from a car company in Washington D.C. She presented documents to the insurance company that included a “Dealer’s Special Certificate” purporting to be issued by the District of Columbia, a receipt for a down payment and a vehicle title showing the name of the registered owner to be a person other than Thompson. Investigation revealed that the District of Columbia temporary tag attached to Thompson’s vehicle, as well as the “Dealer’s Special Certificate” had not been issued by the District of Columbia, and that Thompson could not be identified as the registered owner of the vehicle after a search of the records for the motor vehicle administrations in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Further, the seller of the automobile could not produce records to document the sale of the automobile to Thompson.

Thompson was asked by the insurance company to present herself for a taped statement and did so on November 20, 2003. During the interview she was asked her employment status. She responded that she was unemployed at the time of taped statement and denied specific questions of whether she was employed as a police officer in Baltimore City. Investigation revealed that she was in fact employed as a sworn officer of the Baltimore City Police Department and had been since 2001.

Judge Kathleen Gallogly Cox sentenced Thompson to one year in the Baltimore County Detention Center and suspended the execution of the sentence in favor of supervised probation for a period of three years. Additionally, Thompson was ordered to perform 75 hours of community service, and to pay court costs.

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