Premium-Pocketing Broker Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

Wednesday, June 28, 2017 | 0

A Colorado insurance broker convicted of pocketing $130,000 in workers’ compensation premiums was sentenced to 12 years in state prison, according to a report by the Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction.

James Ahlin
(Mesa County Sheriff's Office)

James Ahlin, 56, was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to charges of theft, insurance fraud and forgery. The state Attorney General’s Office said Ahlin victimized at least two dozen subcontractors needing comp coverage, but it isn't known what he did with the money he stole.

Ahlin was arrested in 2016 after the state learned that he was selling fraudulent policies despite the fact that he surrendered his broker’s license in 2014 after pleading guilty to forgery in what the Daily Sentinel said was a similar case.

Prosecutors said that, in light of Ahlin continuing his illegal activity after a previous conviction, incarceration was the only option.

Ahlin’s attorney asked the court for a term in a community correctional facility. He said victims won’t receive restitution if Ahlin is locked up in state prison. And he said the 15-year term prosecutors were seeking would have amounted to a death sentence.