A Queens-based school bus company and its owners were charged with filing false liability insurance certificates for student transportation in the Valley Stream Central High School District between 2019 and 2024, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
Cheese Bus Inc., Malik Turnage Sr. and Malik Turnage Jr. were each arraigned on Wednesday, Oct. 21, on four counts of offering a false instrument and two counts of insurance fraud.
Turnage, Sr. and Turnage, Jr., pleaded not guilty and were released, Donnelly said. If convicted, they face one and one-third to four years in prison, according to the DA.
Donnelly said that according to the charges, the Valley Stream Central High School District requested an updated certificate of liability insurance in October 2023 from its bus contractors and providers.
Turnage Jr., a co-owner of Cheese Bus, provided two certificates to the school district via email on Nov. 1, 2023, with both dated Oct. 31, 2023, and listing Integon National Insurance Company as the insurance carrier with an associated policy number, the DA said.
Eight hours after emailing the school district the two certificates, Turnage Jr. sent a second email with two additional purported documents, dated Nov. 1, 2023, and listing the same insurance carrier and policy number, according to Donnelly.
The school district later discovered that the certificates provided by Turnage Jr. were forged, the DA said.
Investigators found that Cheese Bus had insurance, but it did not cover the district’s contract, according to Donnelly.
A review of records from Integon National Insurance Company and Urban Insurance Brokerage showed no indication of Cheese Bus ever having insurance coverage or certificates issued for its contract with the school district, the DA said.
