Aug. 05--NEWBURYPORT -- Mary Kumar, the former car insurance agent who allegedly posed as the woman she stole from in Newburyport District Court this March, saw her substantial bail cut in half Wednesday to $100,000 from $200,000.
Police say the 26-year-old Medford woman collected money from a customer and issued a bogus policy in exchange, then went to extreme lengths -- including posing as her victim in court -- in an attempt to cover her tracks.
Kumar faces four charges of intimidation of a witness, three counts of forgery of a document and a sole charge of identify fraud. All eight charges are based on her pretending to be her victim when she came to court in March to file motions and then stand before Judge Peter Doyle, according to court records.
Upon Kumar's arraignment on May 31, Doyle ordered her held on the same $200,000 cash bail already posted by her family after her arrest days earlier. In the meantime, she was ordered to stay away from Prestige Insurance of Middleton and have no contact with her alleged victim.
In court Wednesday, Essex County prosecutor Shailagh Kennedy did not argue against the defense request to have the bail amount cut in half.
She also informed Judge Allen Swan that Kumar's case may remain at the district court level, saving her from possible indictment in superior court.
Swan approved the bail reduction and scheduled Kumar's next court appearance for Sept. 22.
Essex County District Attorney's Office spokesman Steven O'Connell said prosecutors were confident Kumar would return to court even with bail reduced by 50 percent.
"We determined that $100,000 would be sufficient to ensure her return to court," O'Connell said.
According to the report of state police Trooper Michael Provost, Middleton police were aware of Prestige Insurance customers who were not insured despite making regular payments. Police also learned Kumar was the point person for customers making auto insurance payments.
State police are continuing an investigation into Kumar's activities to determine whether there is more to her attempts to cover up her alleged crimes.
Court records don't state how much money the victim paid for the bogus insurance policy.
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Police first heard of Kumar when the victim was pulled over by Topsfield police on Jan. 8 for charges of operating a motor vehicle with a revoked registration and no insurance. The victim insisted she had insurance and a valid registration, but police told her her policy had been revoked months earlier.
Concerned, the victim called Kumar at Prestige Insurance, where she said she was assured by Kumar that she would make a few phone calls and straighten out the matter immediately. While Kumar arranged a rental car for the woman, she did little else to correct the situation, according to court records. The victim contacted Kumar several more times with Kumar repeatedly assuring her that she was working on getting the matter behind her.
The victim ended up receiving a court notice to appear in Ipswich District Court for arraignment on Feb. 11 for the two motor vehicle charges. She emailed Kumar about the summons and was told that if necessary, the court date could be extended as far as possible to allow time to sort out the mix-up.
Pretending to be the victim, Kumar sent a typed letter to the courthouse asking for an extension, stating she would be out of town, Provost's report states. The court allowed the request and the arraignment was pushed back to March 10. On March 4, Kumar, again pretending to be the victim, went into the courthouse and asked that the arraignment be handled that day so she could get the matter over with, signing an official motion using the false name, according to the report.
She then proceeded into the courtroom where she asked Judge Doyle to grant her motion. However, Kumar forgot to check in with the Probation Department prior to her arrival in the courtroom as required. Kumar then went to the Probation Department, where she completed an intake form that asked for her name, address, place of birth, phone number and other personal information. When a probation official asked to see some identification and her Social Security number, Kumar said she didn't have any with her. She then signed the intake form under penalties of perjury.
Kumar's information was checked through the Department of Motor Vehicles, which alerted court officials that the information she provided didn't match what was on file for the victim. Another probation official became suspicious and informed her that the photo on file with the DMV did not match her appearance. Kumar feigned ignorance but agreed to have her photo taken by the Probation Department for its records.
Alerted on the identification issue, Doyle continued the arraignment until May 6 to allow Kumar time to provide proper identification to the court. Kumar's photo was later shown to the Topsfield police officer who stopped the victim. He told officials that the photos did not match. With this information, Doyle returned the arraignment to March 10, according to Provost's report.
When March 10 arrived, the victim did not report to court, prompting Doyle to issue a warrant for her arrest. Meanwhile, Provost was asked by the court to begin an investigation into the matter. During all this, the victim continued to contact Kumar, telling her that she was frightened and asked for help repeatedly. Kumar told the victim that her company would be assigning its attorney to help her.
On March 18, a lawyer went to the courthouse and filed a motion to remove the default warrant against the victim. When members of the District Attorney's Office informed the attorney that there was an identification issue, the attorney decided against filing the motion.
A month later, the victim was arrested at her place of work in Danvers on the previous warrant. The day being a Friday, the victim spent three nights in jail before she was transported to Ipswich District Court on Monday morning. She was eventually released on $500 cash bail.
In late April, Topsfield and Middleton police met with Kumar and Provost. The trooper asked Kumar if she remembered the Topsfield officer and whether he had pulled her over back in January. He then asked her if she visited the Newburyport courthouse in March. She stated she didn't know the officer and had not visited the courthouse on that date.
Provost then showed her the photo taken by a probation official. She admitted it was her in the photo but said she could not remember when and where it was shot.
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