New York Man Arraigned for Insurance Fraud

New York Superintendent of Insurance Neil D. Levin announced that Arnold J. Pieroni Jr., 49, of Lewiston was arraigned on Dec. 15, 2000. He plead not guilty on two counts of insurance fraud in the second degree and one count of scheming to defraud in the first degree.

The arrest is the result of an 18-month joint investigation by the Insurance Department’s Frauds Bureau and the Niagara County district attorney’s office. Pieroni, nephew of Niagara Falls Mayor Irene J. Elia , allegedly collected more than $250,000 from American Bankers Insurance Co. by repeatedly filing false claims of damage to his home from winter storms between January 1996 and December 1999. If convicted of these charges, Pieroni faces up to a maximum of 15 years in prison.