DELHI _ A Fleischmanns junkyard dealer pleaded innocent to charges involved with allegedly fraudulently insuring and registering cars for illegal immigrants.
William Hrazanek, 61, of Old Route 28, appeared in Delaware County Court on Monday for arraignment on a grand jury indictment.
Hrazanek, who was arrested in February, is charged with felony charges of second-degree insurance fraud and four counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
Delaware County Judge Carl Becker scheduled Hrazanek's trial for Oct. 6.
Hrazanek is free on $10,000 bond.
He is accused of fraudulently providing insurance and auto registrations for used cars with high mileage that he sold to unlicensed drivers, allegedly earning tens of thousands of dollars each year from the practice.
An investigation began when Ulster County Sheriff's Department deputies noticed an unusually high number of traffic stops and accidents involving vehicles registered to Rabbit City, Hrazanek's salvage yard.
In each case, the incidents involved unlicensed drivers who were also undocumented immigrants, officials said.
One of the vehicles was involved in an accident in Delaware County in which a child was injured while riding a bicycle.
Police identified the unlicensed drivers as undocumented immigrants living mostly in Delaware and Ulster counties.
Hrazanek allegedly charged buyers $1,800 a year per vehicle for the fraudulent insurance and registrations, and he paid $30 to add the vehicles under his Rabbit City umbrella policy, officials said previously.
Investigators said it is believed that 40 vehicles were fraudulently insured and registered.
The alleged scam occurred during a four-year period. Hrazanek's insurance company, American Transit Insurance, calculated its premium loss for 40 vehicles during that span of time at $522,823.
In other court business, a Walton woman who pleaded guilty on May 7, 2007, to forging a doctor's prescription to purchase narcotics appeared in court for violating her probation.
Nicole R. Holden, 29 is charged with allegedly possessing and using marijuana, Becker said, ordering her held without bail for a hearing Aug. 4.
Last year, Holden pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. She admitted to having a forged prescription for Soma, a muscle relaxant, using the illegally obtained forms to buy drugs at pharmacies in Walton and Delhi.
At the time, Delaware County Judge Carl Becker sentenced Holden to five years' probation and ordered her to pay restitution totaling $6,255.95.
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