Ismael Pulido Martinez appeared before Judge Michael Montero’s court on June 19 to be sentenced for a gross misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, a charge he previously pled guilty to on April 17, for a crime committed in June 2016.
The state of Nevada filed a criminal complaint against Martinez on April 13, charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, a gross misdemeanor punishable with up to 364 days in the jail, fines up to two thousand dollars and restitution to be paid to any victim(s) that may have suffered a loss.
Martinez filed a claim to his insurance company, stating that his 2006 Toyota Camry had been damaged after coming in contact with an animal two months prior to the claim, later determined to be a false and misleading statement by an investigation completed by the state Attorney General’s office.
Martinez is a 31-year old high school graduate, working full time supporting a family. At the time of the incident, Martinez had just been laid off his job, his car was having mechanical problems and money was still owed on the loan for the car.
When Montero invited Martinez to give his statement in court, he reminded Martinez how important the allocution would be to the court’s sentencing decision with the wide range of sentencing options available in the case.
“This is probably going to be the most crucial part of this entire sentencing hearing today,” said Montero. ”I think this is really going to be the key to which direction we go.”
“I have a lot of options at my disposal today,” said Montero. “Sometimes as a judge I don’t get that.”
The plea agreement decided upon by both Matthew Stermitz on Martinez’s behalf, and prosecuting attorney Amy Steelman from the Nevada Attorney General’s office was a recommendation for Martinez to pay a $500 fine and an additional $500 reimbursement to the Attorney General for investigative costs.
Even with a plea agreement being signed by all parties, the sentence is still left to the discretion of the court upon sentencing.
Stermitz argued as Martinez’s legal counsel that Martinez “goofed up, he was looking at a way to resolve a problem and apparently it was the wrong way.” Stermitz described Martinez to the court as a working man with a family to support and no other criminal history.
This being his first mistake, Stermitz asked the court to allow Martinez to pay the amounts agreed upon in the plea agreement without placing him on probation.
Martinez explained to the court that a car he had purchased started to have mechanical problems, he still had a loan on the car and had recently been laid off, so he tried to report a claim to his insurance company that wasn’t really what happened.
In his statement to the court, Martinez said, “I know what I did was wrong, I was in a situation where I was trying to fix something and it was the wrong way; I understand that”
“I work hard, I want to get this behind me and move on with my family,” said Martinez.
“I sometimes cringe a little when I have to pay my premiums for insurance for my vehicles owned by myself and my daughters and my family, but it’s an obligation that we have under the law to carry insurance and it’s a protection to us,” said Montero. “What’s offensive when I see a case like this is that if a person defrauds an insurance company, what does that do? It has a ripple effect on all of us, we all pay greater insurance premiums then because of what insurance companies may have to pay.”
“This is the type of crime in which your actions could affect all of us,” said Montero.
Montero sentenced Martinez to pay a $500 fine, $500 to the state for reimbursement of investigative costs, a $153 for DNA collection and analysis, $25 administrative assessment, a $250 public defender fee and gave him credit for one day time served in jail.
“Good luck to you; don’t do this again,” said Montero.
