Crime & Safety

Jury Finds Former Waretown Man Guilty Of Insurance Fraud

Edwin Pastrof slated to be sentenced in mid-October



A former Waretown resident is facing between three to five years in state prison after an Ocean County jury found him guilty of insurance fraud, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato said.

The jury convicted Edwin Pastrof, 51, on Wednesday. Pastrof, who has since moved to Florida had homes in Cranford and in Waretown on Teaneck Road. The case took place at the Waretown address, the prosecutor said.

Pastrof purchased a dishwasher in October 2009 from the Appliance Gallery in Bayville, NJ.  In February 2010, the dishwasher leaked, and caused damage to his kitchen floor.

It appeared to be an installation problem that caused the leak, so Pastrof contacted Fireplace Innovations in Barnegat, the company that did the installation.

Fireplace Innovations filed a claim with their insurance company, Mercer Insurance Group, on behalf of Pastrof to pay for the damage to his floor.  Mercer sent an adjuster to view the damage and requested Pastrof to provide proof of the cost to replace the floor.  Pastrof forwarded two invoices from a company called Emerald Flooring in Barnegat. Mercer made a settlement offer on the claim but Pastrof rejected it, Coronato said.. 

Mercer later received an anonymous call indicating that Emerald was not a real company and that the invoices were fraudulent.  Mercer had adjusters interview multiple people, including William Atanacio, the man listed as the owner of Emerald Flooring, the prosecutor said.

William Atanacio testified during the trial that there was no company called Emerald Flooring and that he had no knowledge of these invoices until he was contacted by the Mercer Insurance Group, Coronato said.

Atanacio was a bartender at the Lighthouse Tavern in Waretown and knew Pastrof as a regular customer.  He had no flooring experience and did not create theinvoices.  Pastrof claimed he hired Atanacio to help him out because Atanacio was having money problems and had a sick child.  Atanacio denied that claim and said that Pastrof came to him and asked him to go along with the story to help him out.  Pastrof even wrote out a statement for Atanacio to sign, Atanacio declined, the prosecutor said.

Pastrof also testified at the trial and an extremely incriminating video statement he gave to Assistant Prosecutor Marty Anton was played for the jury, Coronato said.

Pastrof’s sentencing is tentatively scheduled for October 17. He has been free on $20,000 bail with no ten percent option since he was arrested in July 2012.

The trial was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Peter Ryan, with assistance from Assistant Prosecutor Bill Scharfenberg.  Prosecutor’s Economic Crimes Unit Detective Lindsay Fortier-Llauget was the lead investigator, with assistance from Agent Stephen Shadiack.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.