Nutley Man Part of Cell Phone Fraud Ring, Investigators Say

Passaic County and Federal law enforcement say a Nutley man defrauded insurance companies by using fake names to receive replacements for nonexistent lost or stolen cell phones.

According to the County Prosecutor’s complaint, Ted Mancuso, 43, and two Passaic men defrauded Asurion Insurance Services by submitting certified loss claims under fictitious names reporting that cell phones were lost or stolen to receive replacement cell phones.

Prosecutors say Ceasar Berrios, 26, would have the phones delivered to a covert address. Then the three men would allegedly defendants then sold the replacement cell phones over the internet. 

Investigators say that a third man allegedly involved with the cell phone fraud scheme, Roger Davila, 32, bragged about parts of the scheme on his Facebook page.

Mancuso, Davila and Berrios allegedly filed over $160,000 worth of fraudulent claims between December 2009 and August 2013.

The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office Insurance Fraud Unit and agents of the United States Secret Service arrested the three men on Thursday following a year-long investigation.