Anna Gabriela Garcia, 46, of Capistrano Beach, Calif., was arraigned and charged with 40 felony counts of grand theft after allegedly collecting premium payments from customers and diverting the funds of over $195,000 for personal use.
Garcia, a former licensed insurance agent, while working for an independently owned State Farm agency from 2011 to 2014 reportedly embezzled more than 300 checks totaling $195,626 by altering, endorsing or depositing them into her personal bank accounts. These checks were for payment of the insureds’ insurance premiums or were premium refunds for the policyholder, according to the California Department of Insurance.
Garcia allegedly failed to place coverage for personal and commercial automobile insurance causing cancellation of DMV registrations and exposing customers and others on the road to the risk of economic loss. Garcia also allegedly failed to place a life insurance policy and at least 17 homeowner and renter’s policies.
To conceal the embezzlement of diverted premium checks into her personal bank account, Garcia allegedly made 57 unauthorized ACH debits from one State Farm insured’s bank account to pay the premiums of others unknown to that insured. She also allegedly made unauthorized charges to multiple customers’ credit cards to pay the premiums of unrelated others’ State Farm policies.
Garcia allegedly 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, according to the CDI.
Garcia was arraigned on Monday at the Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Bail was set at $20,000.00. The case was handled by CDI’s Investigation Division and is being prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Garcia’s license expired in April 2018 for failure to renew.
Topics California Agencies Fraud
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Debby’s Florida Claims Already Near 12,000 as Yaworsky Says Market Is Strengthening 
Anti-DEI Shareholders Are Attacking Corporate America’s Diversity Programs 
Allstate to Sell Employer Voluntary Benefits Business to StanCorp for $2 Billion 
With American Mobile Out, Florida’s Mobile Home Insurance Market Seems to Have ‘Fallen Apart’ 
