Former Insurance Agent Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement

Feb. 11--A La Grange insurance agent was sentenced Wednesday to 48 months supervised probation with one year of electronic house arrest for embezzling money from 43 policy holders and 16 insurance companies.

Terri Lynn Spence, 34, of 8514 Rosebud Lane, Emerald Isle, pleaded guilty to five counts of embezzlement by an insurance agent in Lenoir County Superior Court.

Judge Paul Jones set the terms of Spence's probation and house arrest and ordered she pay $46,773.93 in restitution and court fees.

Spence was arrested by N.C. Department of Insurance investigators and the La Grange Police Department in June 2008 and charged with four counts of embezzlement and one count of obtaining property by false pretense.

According to the investigation, Spence, who owned S and T Insurance Agency in La Grange, failed to pass on more than $6,000 in premiums to insurance companies, leaving customers with homeowners insurance and workers compensation policies without coverage.

DOI employs 20 sworn law enforcement officers that investigate claims of insurance fraud. In 2009, these criminal investigators saw 413 cases successfully closed with more than $10.5 million in restitution and recoveries, 89 criminal convictions and 175 arrests, said agency spokeswoman Lizz Wall.

An estimated 10 cents of every dollar paid in premiums goes toward the payment of fraudulent claims, Wall said.

Wesley Brown can be reached at 252-559-1075 or [email protected].

To see more of The Free Press or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kinston.com/.

Copyright (c) 2010, The Free Press, Kinston, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.