3 Lawrence lawyers arraigned on car insurance fraud charges

SALEM -- The indictment of three Lawrence attorneys this week on charges that they colluded with clients to commit automobile insurance fraud could combat a crime that costs the average Massachusetts driver $200 to $300 a year.

In Salem Superior Court yesterday, the attorneys were arraigned on charges that included insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and subornation of perjury. They are Deborah Cuomo, who lives in Andover; Jorge Elias, who lives in Salem; and Charles Lonardo who lives in Salem, N.H.

All pleaded not guilty. Judge Bonnie H. MacLeod released each on personal recognizance after setting separate pretrial hearings for October and November.

Daniel J. Johnston, president of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts, who spoke at a news conference following the arraignments, said these cases represented the first time that attorneys have been indicted on auto insurance fraud in the 13 years that the industry-funded, state-sponsored bureau has been in existence.

"What this proves is that no matter who you are, if you commit a crime, we will prosecute you," Johnston said on the courtroom steps.

Arraigned on similar charges were Alan Cohen, a Lawrence chiropractor who lives in Weston, and five other Lawrence-area residents. Three other chiropractors and one other resident are scheduled to be arraigned Monday on indictments returned by the Essex grand jury last Wednesday.

In addition, MacLeod issued default warrants to three others for failing to appear in court yesterday.

A recitation of the specifics of the cases against each individual arraigned yesterday was waived at the request of Assistant District Attorney Alexander R. Cain.

Auto fraud investigations have been a top priority of the Lawrence Police Department and the Essex district attorney's office since September 2003, when Altagracias Arias, 65, was killed in a high-speed accident that the participants staged in order to file false accident and personal injury claims, according to Lawrence Police Chief John J. Romero.

Romero said the most recent indictments bring to 86 the number of individuals the city's Police Department is pursuing for auto fraud.

He said the number was "the tip of the iceberg."

"Auto fraud has been a cottage industry in Lawrence for 15 years," Romero said. "With this task force approach, we are finally seeing results."

Assistant Attorney General Kurt Schwartz, who is chief of that office's criminal bureau, said the indictments of the attorneys are significant, because they are "the professionals who are making the money."

"In this case they have taken the professionals who are making the money off it and perhaps fueling it," Schwartz said. "If you compare this to the drug trade, typically what you see is the arrest of the street-level users and sellers, but what you are seeing here is the dismantling of the entire fraud organization."

Andrew M. Perlman, an associate professor at Suffolk University Law School, said that while the prosecution of lawyers as a result of actions taken while acting as attorneys is a rare occurrence, it is too early to conclude that prosecuting them will halt insurance fraud.

"I would have to know if the lawyers were really behind it or whether they were duped into helping out in an activity that proved to be criminal," Perlman said. "We shouldn't rush to judgment."

Attorney Eugene P. McCann, who is defending Elias, said that he is confident his client will be proven not guilty and a victim of a too-aggressive police investigation.

Caroline Louise Cole can be reached at cole@globe.com