Following a six-month investigation, former insurance agent Charles Stanley Tigner was arrested on a Tulare County Superior Court warrant. Among the 127 criminal violations charged in the warrant are insurance fraud, grand theft, false impersonation, possession of fictitious checks, and elder abuse.
Tigner, 62, who is also known by several aliases, was booked at the Tulare County Pre-Trial Detention Facility. Bail was set at $1 million. If convicted, Tigner, who allegedly received over $81,000 from insurance companies and policyholders by fraudulent means, faces a maximum sentence of 69 years in state prison.
According to the CDI, Tigner, whose insurance agent license was revoked in 1979, has acted illegally as an insurance agent for a number of years. Investigators allege that Tigner has a history of allegedly changing the life insurance policies of insureds into his own name and also of taking out loans on the life insurance policies of insureds without their knowledge.
A Kings County Superior Court search warrant based on a life insurance fraud case was served at Tigner’s residence on June 23, 2000. As a result of that search, investigators identified other fraudulent insurance claims allegedly submitted by Tigner as well as other evidence of life and homeowner insurance premium theft. Victimized insurance companies included Zurich-Kemper Life Insurance, Foremost Insurance, Century-National Insurance, Ohio State Life Insurance, and Protective Life Insurance.
The CDI stated that Tigner, working under the business name “Select Services”, allegedly arranged for insureds to pay six-month or one-year insurance premiums directly to him. While Tigner made some premium payments, other policies were allowed to lapse. When contacted by investigators, many of the insureds were unaware that their insurance policies had lapsed or that loans had been taken against their policies.
The CDI indicated that Tigner would allegedly change an insured’s mailing addresses to one many post office boxes or other mailing addresses in Fresno, Fowler, Porterville and Woodville. Investigators reported that most of the fraudulent insurance claims were made to Foremost Insurance Company for reported wind damage to mobile home awnings, which insureds later told investigators had never occurred. Furthermore, the insureds reported that they had never made insurance claims for awning damage.
Once the fraudulent insurance claims had been made, investigators allege that Tigner canceled or stopped making premium payments, leaving the insureds without coverage. Currently awaiting jury trial in Kings County for insurance fraud, Tigner is also awaiting jury trial, scheduled for January 2001, in Fresno County elder abuse. In addition, special allegations were filed on Tigner for committing felonies while on his own recognizance in Fresno County.
The CDI also reported that during the course of Tigner’s insurance practices, he used the name of his son, Mark Tigner, of Tulare, California. The CDI emphasized that Mark Tigner is a licensed insurance agent in good standing, who has no insurance business affiliation with Charles Stanley Tigner. Furthermore, Mark Tigner is not suspected or charged in any of Charles Stanley Tigner’s alleged criminal violations.
Topics California Fraud Agencies
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