Philadelphia Man Convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Insurance Fraud

BALTIMORE, MD ( January 21, 2010) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Joseph Francis Brooks, 46, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania pled guilty in Montgomery County Circuit Court to a single count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Judge Michael J. Algeo imposed a five year suspended sentence and 18 months probation.

In June 2002, while living in Baltimore, Brooks conspired with his cousin, Pierre Lamont Taylor to stage an armed robbery of Taylor for the purpose of making a false worker’s compensation claim with Taylor’s employer, United Parcel Service (UPS). On August 14, 2002, Taylor, while working for UPS in Montgomery County, was “robbed” by Brooks. Brooks and Taylor not only staged a “robbery,” but Brooks also actually shot Taylor in his right leg. On August 21, 2002, Taylor filed an insurance claim with Liberty Mutual Insurance, the compensation insurer for UPS. In November 2004, Liberty Mutual Insurance paid a lump sum disability payment of $250,000 to Taylor, who in turn shared some of the money with Brooks. A former friend of Taylor’s reported the fraud to Liberty Mutual. Taylor confessed to Maryland State Police that he and Brooks got the idea for the staged robbery from watching television.

When sentencing Brooks, Judge Algeo said he has spent most of his working life as an attorney, a prosecutor and a judge and “this ranks as one of the dumbest things” he has seen anyone do.

The conviction follows a joint investigation by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration, the Maryland State Police and the Office of the Attorney General.