Ex-Newburgh cop going to prison for insurance fraud

KINGSTON, N.Y. â€" A former Newburgh city police officer who fled the scene of a car accident that left a woman permanently injured and later claimed he had struck a deer will spend one to three years in state prison, according to Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright.

Thomas W. Douglass IV of Milton was sentenced Friday by Ulster County Judge Donald Williams Friday after being convicted of insurance fraud and falsifying business records. Douglass was also ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution, Carnright said.

Douglass was convicted by an Ulster County jury Nov. 23, 2011, on charges stemming from an Oct. 11, 2009, incident on U.S. Route 9W in the town of Marlborough, Carnright said.

On that night, authorities said, a car carrying five young women was hit from behind by a pickup truck driven by Douglass. It struck the car with such force that it was crushed, injuring four of the women. One of them was “seriously and permanently” injured, Carnright said.

There were no witnesses to the accident, and none of the victims could identify the driver of the truck, he said.

Carnright said the pickup truck fled the scene without checking the occupants of the car or calling for emergency help.

Marlborough town police launched an investigation that lasted for 13 months, eventually leading them to Douglass, who was indicted in November 2010.

His trial lasted eight days, with the jury finding him guilty of insurance fraud and falsifying business records. Authorities said he tried to conceal the accident by falsely reporting a car-deer accident and filing an insurance claim for the damage to his truck.

The jury acquitted him of a charge of leaving the scene of the accident, Carnright said.

The case was prosecuted by assistant district attorneys William J. Weishaupt and William Andrews, with the assistance of the New York State Department of Financial Services. Douglass was represented by attorney Rory Bellantoni.