State v. Yoskowitz

563 A.2d 1, 116 N.J. 679, 1989 N.J. LEXIS 91
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedJuly 19, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by88 cases

This text of 563 A.2d 1 (State v. Yoskowitz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Yoskowitz, 563 A.2d 1, 116 N.J. 679, 1989 N.J. LEXIS 91 (N.J. 1989).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Defendant, Marc Yoskowitz, arranged to have his automobile stolen so that he could collect insurance. On March 28, 1985, defendant pleaded guilty in Municipal Court, Livingston, Essex County, to the disorderly-persons offense of filing a false police report. Seven months later the Prosecutor of Union County charged defendant with third-degree arson and third-degree attempted theft by deception. The issue in this appeal is whether a subsequent indictment charging arson and attempted [683]*683theft by deception is barred by double jeopardy, the mandatory joinder rule, or fundamental fairness.

I

' In January 1985, the defendant, then eighteen years old, was having financial trouble and his car was experiencing mechanical difficulties. To get money, defendant devised a plan to defraud his insurer, Allstate Insurance Company, by having his 1980 Pontiac Trans Am stolen and then claiming insurance for the loss. In furtherance of the scheme, defendant claims to have met a man named “Andy” at an unnamed bar1 on or about January 17, 1985, and to have paid Andy $100 to “get rid of [his] car.” Defendant described the car to Andy and gave him its license plate number and an extra set of keys. He told Andy he would park the car near the Burger King at the Livingston Mall at about 1:00 p.m. on January 22, 1985.

On that day, defendant drove his car to the Livingston Mall, parked it near the Burger King, locked it, and went shopping. When he returned to the parking lot, his car was missing. Defendant immediately contacted Mall security officers, who assisted him in the futile search for his car. The Livingston Police Department then was called, and defendant reported that his car had been stolen from the mall. The next day he reported the loss to his insurance agent and to Allstate. Although he was aware that the car was a 1980 model, defendant falsely represented to the police and his insurance company that it was a 1982 vehicle. His title papers erroneously indicated that the car was a 1982 model.

Eight days later, on January 30, 1985, at approximately 3:30 a.m., a fire was reported in a deserted area on Village Road in [684]*684Union.2 On arriving at the scene, firefighters found a burning automobile later identified as defendant’s. The car exploded shortly after their arrival, but the fire was soon extinguished. No one was injured by the blaze. A search of the immediate area at the time of the fire yielded a piece of cloth and a sports jacket, each of which smelled of gasoline. The owner of the jacket was never discovered.

The vehicle was examined by fire inspectors from the Union County Bureau of Fire Prevention and an investigator from the Union County Arson Unit. The investigators concluded that the car had been stripped of valuable accessories and, with gasoline as the probable accelerant, set ablaze from within. That same day, Detective Stan Mazur of the Township of Union Police Department was informed that the matter had been referred to the Union County Arson Unit for further investigation. A February 1, 1985, Union County Prosecutor’s Office (Arson Unit) intra-office report described the burned vehicle as having “been stolen at the Livingston Mall some months ago____ [T]he Livingston Police Department is doing a followup investigation on the stolen car aspect along with the Union Police Department.”

On February 6, 1985, defendant called Detective Mazur and learned that his car had been recovered and towed to a local auto-repair shop. Five days later, on February 11,1985, Detective Stehlgens informed Allstate that the car had been found completely burned and that arson was suspected. On February 15,1988, defendant filed with Allstate an “Affidavit of Automobile Total Theft.”

Detective Stehlgens of the Livingston Police Department and Detective Mazur of the Union Police Department investigated the theft of the vehicle. On March 5, 1985, Detective Mazur [685]*685called defendant and requested that he come to the Union Police Station for questioning. On arrival, defendant met with detectives Mazur and Stehlgens. After being informed of his constitutional rights, and after signing a waiver-of-rights form, defendant agreed to make a statement to the two municipal police officers. No county police officer was present at that meeting. Defendant admitted orally and in a signed confession that his car was not stolen but that he had paid someone he knew only as “Andy” $100 to take his car from the Livingston Mall so that he could collect on the insurance policy. Defendant said that he would try to find out Andy’s last name and tell the police. Defendant maintains that he made his written statement in reliance on assurances from the police that he would be charged only with a disorderly-persons offense and not brought into Superior Court.

On March 6, 1985, Detective Stehlgens informed Detective Mazur that he would be signing a complaint against defendant for filing a false police report. Defendant claims that “[t]he Incident Eeport of Union Police with entries 1/30/85-3/6/85 ... indicates the defendant as being the [sic] accused of the crime of arson for insurance N.J.S.A. 2C:17-l(b)(3). Thus both the Union Police and the Livingston Police Officials were aware as early as March 6,1985, of the arson and knew defendant was involved.” This claim by defendant is not supported by the incident report cited, however, because although it contains references to March 6,1985, the report was dated May 31,1985.

On the other hand, defendant refers to an entry in an Allstate diary, apparently made on March 6, 1985, that says “Eec’d call from Det Mazur [sic] of Union * * * he has stmt from insured stating he had someone burn his car for him. Still waiting for name of person who burnt [sic] car so req I did not send denial. Closed file after hearing from Det. will refer to fraud div.” The Allstate diary, in fact, indicates earlier communications between the authorities and Allstate. On February 11, 1985, Detective Stehlgens called to say insured’s car was found in Union “completely burnt — arson Union PD Det Stan Mazur is [686]*686investigating.” And on February 26, 1985, a conversation took place with “Livingston PD” in which it was communicated that the Livingston authority “will gt together w/ Union Det____”

On March 15, 1985, Detective Stehlgens filed a complaint in the Livingston Municipal Court against defendant, charging him with filing a false police report on January 22, 1985, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:28-4(b)(l). On March 28, 1985, defendant appeared without counsel at the Livingston Municipal Court and pleaded guilty to that offense. Before defendant’s plea was accepted, the municipal court advised him of the charges against him, of his right to consult with an attorney, and of the possible penalties he faced. The following colloquy occurred between the municipal court and defendant:

COURT: Anyone promise you anything or threaten you in any way to induce you to enter this plea?
DEPENDANT: No.
COURT: Do you do so voluntarily?
DEPENDANT: Yes.
COURT: What’s this all about? Why did you report your car stolen if it wasn’t stolen?
DEPENDANT: Well someone did take it but I, I talked to some guy and I gave him some money to take the car. I just, I guess I wanted to collect on the insurance.

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Bluebook (online)
563 A.2d 1, 116 N.J. 679, 1989 N.J. LEXIS 91, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-yoskowitz-nj-1989.