Former agent charged with 40 felony counts of grand theft in fraud scheme

On Monday, former insurance agent Anna Gabriela Garcia of Capistrano Beach, California was arraigned and charged with 40 felony counts of grand theft for insurance fraud.

Prosecutors say while working for an independent State Farm agency from 2011 to 2014, Garcia embezzled more than 300 premium payment checks totaling $195,626 and diverted the funds for personal use.

Prosecutors say Garcia failed to place coverage for personal and commercial automobile insurance for her clients, which cancelled DMV registrations and exposed her clients to major financial risks. In addition, Garcia allegedly failed to place a life insurance policy and at least 17 homeowner and renter’s policies for her customers.

The case was handled by CDI’s Investigation Division and is being prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in California.

Related: 15 states with the most identity theft & fraud in 2018

A long list of crimes

Garcia’s fraud scheme was funded on a cycle of theft. To conceal the embezzlement of diverted premium checks into her personal bank account, prosecutors say Garcia made 57 unauthorized ACH debits from one State Farm insured’s bank account to pay the premiums of others unknown to that insured.

More of Garcia’s crimes include unauthorized charges to multiple customers’ credit cards to pay the premiums of unrelated others’ State Farm policies. In other scenarios, investigators say the accused used cash payments from some clients to purchase money orders to pay premiums for other clients and set up policyholders on unauthorized State Farm installment payment plans.

Garcia also misdirected customer billings, statements, and refunds to incorrect addresses, some of which were her own or Post Office boxes she had access to. Victims included extended family members and elderly State Farm customers.

Related: Secrets to combating insurance fraud with data analytics