California Agent To Be Arraigned On Grand Theft, Embezzlement Charges

May 04--A licensed insurance agent is scheduled to be arraigned today on felony insurance fraud charges for allegedly obtaining insurance coverage without paying the carrier on the policies for more than a decade.

Valerie Ann Verdugo, 38, is charged with grand theft and embezzlement. She was arrested April 19.

While working for an insurance company in Bakersfield, Verdugo allowed her own personal auto and homeowner policies to lapse when premiums were due and then wrote a new policy with minor changes to avoid detection by auditor, a California Department of Insurance news release says. She would repeat the scheme when the premium wasn't paid and lapsed again.

The news release says Verdugo performed the same action for friends and family, allowing more than 70 policies to lapse and then rewriting them. Farmer's Insurance lost more than $11,000 in uncollected premiums due to the scheme, according to the release.

Department of Insurance investigators served Verdugo with a license suspension order on April 16.

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