Downward Departure: Florida Insurance Agent Charged with Embezzling Premiums After He Was Hit with Lawsuits, Complaint

Florida authorities in August arrested a well-known southwest Florida insurance agent, charging him with larceny and embezzlement of premiums.

Reid McDaniel, 33, who was named the honorary mayor of North Fort Myers last year but who also was facing a negligence lawsuit from a policyholder and a sexual assault complaint from an employee, was accused of embezzlement amounting to more than $20,000 and less than $100,000, the arrest record shows.

The Florida Department of Financial Services said the charges stemmed from a complaint filed by a business owner who said he had paid McDaniel Insurance Solutions more than $22,900 in premiums for two commercial insurance policies last fall. But the carriers canceled the policies for non-payment.

A telephone number for McDaniel was not in service. NBC2 TV news in Fort Myers reported that McDaniel’s office space on Hancock Bridge Parkway was recently taken over by the business next to it, a roofing company, and the McDaniel Insurance Solutions sign out front was removed.

McDaniel had been featured in several local TV news reports in recent months, speaking about Florida property insurance issues.

The DFS license page shows that McDaniel held a valid general lines/property and casualty agent’s license, a life and health agent license, and an adjuster’s license. He holds active appointments with 38 national and Florida-admitted property insurance carriers, including some of the largest companies in the industry.

McDaniel was reportedly well known in the community, even though he had been there only a few years. In early 2023, he was named “mayor” of North Fort Myers after he raised more than $8,500 for the local Chamber.

Trouble may have been brewing for some time. Last December, an elderly policyholder won a judgment of $198,543 against McDaniel in Lee County Circuit Court. The woman had filed suit after Hurricane Ian slammed the area in 2022. She charged that she had paid more than $2,200 in premiums for a mobile home policy with Lloyd’s of London, but McDaniel never secured the coverage.

When the home was decimated by the storm, the homeowner discovered she had no coverage.