Montana Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing Premiums

An insurance agent from Butte, Mont., who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $7,200 of his client’s premiums has been given a three-year deferred sentence and ordered to pay restitution.

State Insurance Commissioner Monica Lindeen says Jeremy Hoscheid pleaded guilty in April to felony theft by insurance fraud. Under a plea agreement other charges, including forgery, were dismissed. Hoscheid was sentenced on July 12.

Hoscheid worked at the Farm Bureau Financial Services office in Butte from 2009 until fall 2011, when Farm Bureau began an investigation after receiving a complaint from one of Hoscheid’s clients. It found Hoscheid was able to steal the premiums because payments were made with cashier’s checks, blank checks or cash.