A Georgia man has been arrested for at least the second time in four years, charged with posing as an insurance agent and selling fake workers’ compensation policies.
Fernando Jose Cuellar Membreno, 54, was arrested in August after an investigation by the Georgia Board of Workers’ Compensation found that Membreno had been operating under several business names, the board said in a news release Tuesday.
The board’s Enforcement Division had received complaints that Membreno had represented himself as a licensed insurance agent, would accept premium payments from contractors, subcontractors and others, then provide falsified certificates of insurance. Membreno used the premium payments for personal gain, authorities said.
“The investigation revealed that Membreno has stolen thousands of dollars from victims who were under the impression they had workers’ compensation insurance coverage,” the board’s statement noted.
One fraudulent certificate created by Membreno ended up costing a general contractor more than $700,000 in additional premiums, the board noted.
This is not the first time Membreno has been arrested on the insurance fraud charges, using the same business names and operating out of the same South Lee Street address in Buford, Georgia. In 2021, he was charged with multiple counts, according to news reports and Gwinnett County court records. Other charges date from 2019 and 2020.
It’s unclear why Membreno was not fully prosecuted or convicted after the 2021 arrest. Court records show only that a warrant was served but the case was not resolved, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office explained.
The Board of Workers’ Compensation said that businesses owners should contact the Enforcement Division if they received a certificate of workers’ comp insurance from any of Membreno’s companies. These include: HSR Insurance; All Nations, Inc.; All Saints Insurance; Sub Contractors of the South; Platoon Builders Corp.; Tax Center of Gainesville; and Tax Center Buford, Inc.
The suspect is also listed in court records as Fernando Cuellar-Membreno. The Georgia Office of Insurance Commissioner’s license verification site shows no one by either name as a licensed producer.
Topics Workers' Compensation Georgia
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