Stirling man pleads guilty to fraud

Man claimed more than $500,000 in false commissions

AStirling man has pled guilty to fraud for illegally claiming additional commissions from his place of employment amounting to more than $540,000 over nine years. Stephen James Evanson pled guilty to a single count of fraud over $5,000 for claiming $541,370.77 in false commissions from Schwartz Reliance Insurance Company and Registry Services, where he was employed as a licensed insurance broker.

Evanson started with the company in 2005, and in 2007 his pay switched from salary and commission to commission only.

In November 2007, Evanson falsely reported he had earned $68.88 in commission stemming from a request to cancel an insurance policy from a customer. Instead, Evanson entered a renewal and collected the commission.

In 2008, Evanson falsely reported $5,790.64 in commission over what he legitimately earned.

Also falsely reported: $23,508.09 in 2009; $59,751.51 in 2010; $71,794.36 in 2011; $58,618.89 in 2012; $68,453.71 in 2013; $81,839.60 in 2014; $81,104.10 in 2015; and $88,440.99 in 2016.

After filing his false reports each month, Evanson then went back into the computer system and deleted his fraudulent inputs. As a result, the system no longer reflected the inflated dollar amounts he claimed to have earned.

In September 2016, Schwartz was alerted when Evanson failed to enter a reduced premium in the computer system as per a client’s request.

It was determined Evanson had closed the completed request without processing a reduction in premium. It was also determined he had created a fake client account and claimed to have sold insurance to a local business when he had not.

Other false claims made to the company included: creating false client accounts; altering existing accounts, such as changing account numbers or client names; false reports on selling new insurance polices and renewing existing ones; failure to record premiums on reduced and cancelled policies; false reporting on commissions earned; and entering the same commissions multiple times.

In October 2016, Evanson was questioned by the company about his actions, at which point he admitted to committing fraud.

He told the company he had done it because he was living beyond his means.

He was immediately fired and the police were contacted.

Evanson’s bank records show the money was used for car payments, mortgage payments, credit card payments, insurance payments, and to pay for the day-to-day living expenses for himself, his wife and his children.

Evanson is expected back in court on Dec. 5 when a date could be set for sentencing. Police have said the business was the sole victim of his actions.

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