Insurance policies bogus, seller gets 70-month term

A man who pretended to be an insurance agent and collected more than $1.19 million in premiums on nonexistent policies was sentenced Wednesday to just under six years in federal prison.

Paul Alexander Robertson, who used the name Steven Mayberry to defraud people in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi from August 2012 through May 2015, was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $868,836 to several victims in all three states.

In August, Robertson waived having his case reviewed by a federal grand jury for possible indictment and pleaded guilty to a single charge of mail fraud.

He admitted then he used the false name, along with the false business names Prime Services and Brokerages Resources, both with a post office box in Little Rock, to sell policies to unsuspecting clients.

Although he paid some of the claims clients filed by mail or online, he admitted he wasn’t licensed to sell, solicit or negotiate insurance in any of the three states.

His plea agreement said he persuaded licensed insurance agents in the three states he was a licensed broker of insurance products on behalf of several insurance companies.

It said he then obtained insurance forms from a former employer and through the Internet and delivered them by mail and electronically to clients, representing them as valid policies issued by the companies he claimed to represent.

On the basis his false representations, clients paid insurance premiums, both directly and indirectly, to Robertson by mail or electronic wire transfer for policies that didn’t exist.

At the time of his guilty plea, Robertson had agreed to pay $491,820 in restitution to more than 10 victims, but the total amount of loss hadn’t yet been calculated.

U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. sentenced Robertson on Wednesday to 70 months, or two months shy of six years, in federal prison, to be followed by three years’ supervised release.

Moody also ordered Robertson to participate in a substance-abuse treatment program and educational and vocational programs while behind bars.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ray White represented the government, and attorney Bill James of Little Rock represented Robertson.

Robertson was taken into custody immediately after his plea hearing and remained in custody after his sentencing Wednesday.