Hillside officer indicted in insurance fraud...

NEWARK, N.J. -- A police officer was arrested Tuesday on insurance fraud charges, accused of being part of a scheme in which a car was reported stolen, only to be dismantled and sold for the parts.

Officer Dennis Melendez, who had been on the Hillside department for seven years, was suspended without pay, Hillside Police Chief Robert Quinlan said.

Melendez, 32, of Hillside, was arrested at police headquarters after a three-count indictment was unsealed, Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow said.

Melendez could not be reached for comment. No phone listing could be found for him in Hillside.

Other arrests are expected, said Robert T. Buccino, chief of detectives for the prosecutor's office.

The case began last October, when Linden detectives watching an auto body shop say a yellow 2001 Acura Integra being dismantled. The stripped frame was removed on a flatbed, the prosecutor's office said.

The shell, despite having its vehicle identification numbers filed off, was traced to its owner, George Cunha, 20, of Elizabeth. He had falsely reported it stolen the morning after it was stripped.

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