BLAUVELT -An insurance broker was arrested yesterday on a felony charge accusing him of stealing from a customer by taking her money and not providing coverage on her car, state police said.
John L. Pagliaroli, 48, of Princeton Drive, Tappan, was accused of selling the woman a car insurance policy for $1,100 and giving her forged insurance cards.
Investigators arrested Pagliaroli at 9:15 a.m. yesterday at his business, Pagliaroli Insurance Agency, 527 Route 303, Blauvelt.
Pagliaroli was charged with one count of fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a misdemeanor, and one count of second-degree offering a false instrument, a misdemeanor.
The woman, 43, a former Orangetown resident, learned she lacked insurance after being stopped on a speeding charge in Ulster County in September, state police Investigator Patrick Beyea said yesterday. The trooper informed the woman that her license and registration had been suspended by the state for lacking insurance.
She was shocked since she told the state police Pagliaroli had sold her insurance since 2005.
"She would go to his office and pay him money for car insurance," Beyea said. "She believed she had insurance since Pagliaroli gave her insurance cards."
The woman later told police that she called Pagliaroli and he had assured her she had coverage, even though the state Department of Motor Vehicles told her no insurance papers had been filed, Beyea said. She eventually gave the information to the state police, which started investigating Pagliaroli in December.
The price of the insurance policy sold to the woman seemed rather low, given the going rate, Beyea said.
"That tipped me off," he said. "I would have been suspicious at that."
Pagliaroli was released yesterday on $500 bail pending a May 2 hearing on the charges in Orangetown Justice Court.
State police are concerned that others may have paid for insurance and are driving around without coverage, Beyea said.
Pagliaroli didn't return a message left on his office telephone number and on his cell phone.
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