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By John Hinton, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C. |
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McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Sept. 08--GREENSBORO -- A judge sentenced a High Point insurance agent to federal prison Thursday after he pleaded guilty to charges that he defrauded investors of more than $500,000 over 11 years, authorities said.
U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles sentenced John A. Womack Jr., 66, to three years and five months in prison and gave him three years of supervised release after he leaves prison, the N.C. Department of Insurance said in a statement Friday.
Eagles also ordered Womack to pay $557,718 in restitution to his victims, the insurance department said. Womack has surrendered his license to sell insurance, according to the department's website.
Womack pleaded guilty in June to four counts of mail fraud, two counts of making false statements to an insurance examiner, and five counts of making false entries into the accounts and books of an insurance business.
A prosecutor accused Womack of telling clients that they were investing in certificates of deposit and annuities issued by several insurance companies, a federal document says.
The insurance companies didn't issue or back these financial instruments and were unaware of Womack's transactions with the investors, the document says. Womack allegedly received $500,000 from his clients for these bogus certificates of deposit and annuities from Jan. 1, 2001, to February 2011.
Womack is to report Oct. 12 to the U.S. Marshals office to begin his term.
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