Phila. insurance adjuster gets 3 to 21 years in prison

After a fire destroyed Grace Wang-Shing's home five years ago, she called insurance adjuster Marshall Perlman.

As she waited for her settlement to arrive, the Philadelphia widow was evicted from two apartments. She sold her daughter's education bond and used her own retirement savings to begin rebuilding her house, which is still not complete.

But she never received her $194,000 insurance settlement.

And it is unlikely that she ever will, a prosecutor said Thursday as Perlman, also of Philadelphia, was sentenced to three to 21 years in state prison and ordered to make restitution for stealing insurance payments from Wang-Shing and 31 others.

Perlman, 72, forged clients' signatures and deposited insurance payments into his own bank account. His thefts from 2010 to 2013 totaled nearly $700,000, taken from clients - families, churches, victims of Hurricane Sandy, and even his own friends. Several of them testified Thursday.

"He destroyed my credit. He took my life away," a tearful Wang-Shing said from the witness stand.

Gary Johnson, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in West Philadelphia, hired Perlman to help the church after a storm damaged its roof.

"I was told over and over again that it's going to be another 10 days, another 10 days, another 10 days," Johnson said. "I thought we were friends, so I trusted."

But the payment never arrived, Johnson said. The roof still leaks every time it rains.

Perlman, who was arrested in 2013 and charged with more than 200 counts of forgery and theft, pleaded guilty last year. On Thursday, he offered an apology, making eye contact with the victims who appeared in court and calling them by name.

"I know you are angry," he said. "The only thing I can say to you is, I'm terribly sorry."

Perlman said that the fraud scheme was a result of poor business decisions, and that he had tried to take out loans to begin repaying his clients.

But as Perlman stole from clients, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Daniels said, he took a summer trip to Europe with his wife and purchased a condo on the Jersey Shore.

"He had complete and utter disregard for his clients," Daniels said, adding that Perlman has not made restitution despite expressing regret.

Perlman's friends and family also spoke Thursday, telling Montgomery Councy Common Please Judge William R. Carpenter that Perlman was a loving husband and father who was involved in charity work.

"I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but one of the things you have to take into consideration is his character," defense attorney Frank DeSimone said after seven people testified on Perlman's behalf.

Carpenter, as he announced the sentence, said Perlman's actions were inexcusable.

"The extensive theft here," he said, "is one of the largest theft schemes I've seen in 20-some years as a judge."