Macon insurance agent indicted on fraud charges [The Macon Telegraph, Ga.]

May 12--A Macon insurance agent was indicted Tuesday on seven counts of insurance fraud, stemming from allegations that he sold one residential and five business insurance policies but pocketed money paid by customers for premiums, according to court records.

Broadus W. Marshall Jr. of Marshall Insurance Co. initially was arrested at his Malvern Hill Drive home Dec. 17 amid allegations that he defrauded Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia of more than $150,000 and issued fake insurance cards.

The insurance agency is located at 2942 Vineville Ave. in a space shared with other agents.

The indictment returned by a grand jury Tuesday includes the Goodwill allegations, but it also charges Marshall with taking $15,500 paid by Destiny Driven Deliverance Church, A Little Extra Inc. and River Edge Behavioral Health Center.

He's also accused of taking $1,000 paid by Pierce and Parker Inc., a St. Simons business.

The indictment also alleges that Marshall, 57, pocketed $1,000 paid by residential customers George and Anna Hanse.

O. Hale Almand, Marshall's lawyer, said Marshall told him the initial charges pertaining to Goodwill were the result of accounting mistakes and misunderstandings, not criminal intent.

Almand said he hasn't reviewed files from the additional allegations, but he believes those also to be the result of accounting mistakes and misunderstandings.

"We expect to prove that he is not guilty," Almand said.

Marshall's son, Matthew P. Marshall, also was arrested in December. Prosecutor Jonathan Adams said charges against the son have been dismissed.

"He wasn't the actual agent on any of the policies," Adams said.

Adams said authorities did not find evidence of the son signing paperwork, negotiating with prospective customers or taking money.

If convicted, Marshall could face a sentence of between two and 10 years in prison for each count of insurance fraud, Adams said.

The state insurance commissioner's office launched an investigation after being contacted by Goodwill in October.

Marshall sent Goodwill's premium payments to the insurer, Philadelphia Insurance Co., until December 2008. In early 2009, he stopped sending payments to the insurer and Goodwill's policies were cancelled, according to the commissioner's office.

When the policies came up for renewal in August 2009, Goodwill contacted the insurer while shopping around for rates and found that the premium had not been paid.

Representatives of Destiny Deliverance Church and Pierce and Parker Inc. said they called their insurers after seeing news coverage of Marshall's arrest in December.

"They didn't know who I was," said Jack Pierce of Pierce and Parker Inc. "They had never heard of me."

Kenneth Davis, the treasurer for Destiny Driven Deliverance Church on Edna Place, said the church renewed its liability policy after the previous policy expired in June 2009, but later found that Marshall didn't forward payments to the insurance carrier.

The church's insurance wasn't valid, Davis said.

Neither Pierce and Parker Inc. nor the church experienced any losses while uninsured, the two said.

A representative of A Little Extra Inc. declined to comment Tuesday. George and Anna Hanse could not be immediately reached for comment.

Tiffany Russell, community affairs manager for River Edge, said the facility was "surprised and saddened" to learn of Marshall's indictment.

"We have no evidence of wrongdoing toward us," she said. "There is no problem. We're fine."

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.

To see more of The Macon Telegraph, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.macon.com

Copyright (c) 2010, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

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