A former Johnson County insurance agent has been sentenced to 24 months of probation on insurance fraud charges and ordered to repay nearly $86,000 in restitution, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.
Armond R. Peghee, 42, pleaded guilty in January in Johnson County District Court to one count of fraudulent insurance act, one count of theft, one count of unlawful acts concerning computers, and three counts of identity theft. Peghee also agreed to repay $85,897.87 in restitution.
Johnson County District Court Chief Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan on Wednesday sentenced Peghee to the terms of the plea agreement reached in January, and additionally imposed a $5,000 fine.
An investigation by the Kansas Insurance Department determined that Peghee engaged in a fraudulent scheme where he submitted false applications for insurance policies for his customers without his customers’ knowledge. Peghee would receive the commission for the sale of the policies. The customers were unaware of the policies and the premiums went unpaid, according to the attorney general’s office. The policies were eventually canceled for nonpayment, but investigators found Peghee kept the commissions.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Paul Brothers of the Fraud and Abuse Litigation Division in Schmidt’s office.