Accused Agent Said His Wife Handled Policies That Were Never Placed

Monday, November 25, 2019 | 0

A Georgia insurance agent told a state investigator that he was aware that some workers' compensation and other insurance premiums paid to his agency had not made their way to carriers.

Bob Coleman

Agent Bob Coleman, charged with fraud, said that he had let his wife handle much of the business, because he had not mastered computer skills, according to evidence presented at his trial this week in Brunswick, Georgia.

Coleman said in a recorded interview with the investigator that while his wife was on a month-long vacation, he realized there was a problem, and refunded premiums paid by several local businesses, according to a local news report of the trial. The couple was indicted in January and have denied wrongdoing.

“There’s a lot of victims out there. I mean a lot,” Doug Williams, an investigator for the Georgia Board of Workers' Compensation, said in the interview, which was recorded in October 2018.

Coleman, who also is a county commissioner, told Williams that he wasn't sure why the premiums had not gone toward policies. He promised to provide documentation that would sort things out, but never did, Williams testified.

Coleman's wife, Sherry, has not agreed to testify in the trial.

Business owners testified Thursday that Coleman had refunded premiums for some automobile and general liability policies that were never placed, and apologized. But the agency had not refunded payments for a workers' comp policy for a local builder. That left the construction company on the hook for more than $40,000 in additional comp premiums, the newspaper reported.