Agent Fined, to Spend Six Months in Jail for Embezzlement

North Carolina Insurance Commis-sioner Jim Long announced the conclusion of an insurance fraud case against Eugenie H. Johnson of Fayetteville, who was accused of embezzling more than $220,000 from an insurance agency where she worked.

Johnson was sentenced to pay more than $220,000 in restitution for the money she stole, plus serve six to eight months active jail time and 60 months of supervised probation. She was charged in Cumberland and Robeson counties with obtaining property by false pretense; Johnson later confessed.

The DOI began its case against Johnson when investigators received a call from Robert McNeely of the Special Investigative Unit of Liberty Life Insurance Company in Greenville, S.C. As the investigation progressed, officers discovered that Johnson forged cash surrender applications and checks in connection with the cash surrender of over 400 lapsed life insurance policies that had been previously issued. The scheme allegedly generated nearly $250,000 over a seven-year period. Johnson had been an employee of Liberty Life for about years. The company has restored affected policies.

The Department of Insurance employs 19 sworn law enforcement officers dedicated to investigating claims of insurance fraud. In 2004, these investigators saw 26 cases successfully prosecuted with $6.2 million ordered in restitution. In most of those cases, the suspects plead guilty and went on to serve active time.