Calif. former agent sentenced for stealing $100,000 in premiums

A former Moreno Valley, California-based licensed insurance agent was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to stealing more than $100,000 in insurance premiums.

Frederick Donald Rollins, while working as a licensed agent at an insurance agency, collected premium payments from multiple clients for workers compensation and commercial general liability coverage, but did not place coverage with an insurance carrier, the California Department of Insurance said Friday in a statement.

The California DI launched an investigation after receiving multiple complaints, including “one from an insurance carrier after a company attempted to file a claim for its injured employee under what turned out to be a nonexistent policy number and the other from a business owner who discovered they had no legitimate workers compensation or liability coverage,” according to the statement.

Mr. Rollins has been sentenced to one year in an “alternative sentencing, hard-labor program,” the DA's office said, and ordered to pay $100,363 in restitution to his victims.

“Many people make the mistake of thinking insurance fraud is a victimless, white-collar crime,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “This agent left his clients at great financial risk when he failed to secure their policies, leaving them without the coverage they paid for.”