Sabrina Diane Sands, a former employee of Southlake Insurance agency of Gore, pleaded guilty April 13 to six counts of violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act. As part of the plea agreement, four embezzlement charges against Sands were dismissed.
According to court records, Sands was sentenced to six 10-year suspended sentences, all to run concurrently, and was ordered to pay $28,696 in restitution.
The July 2005 charges against Sands, 28, stemmed from an investigation by the Oklahoma Insurance Department, which began in August 2004.
According to the department, investigators with the department's anti-fraud unit provided information that helped Attorney General Drew Edmondson bring the charges against Sands.
"Insurance fraud is a serious problem and increases the cost of insurance premiums for everyone," Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said in a press release.
Court records indicate that when Sands received cash or checks from customers, she allegedly converted them to her own use, disposing of the office copy of the receipt and leaving several customers without insurance coverage.
According to the state's complaint, Sands obtained more than $6,000 from her alleged scheme. Sands' insurance license was suspended in 2004 following the start of the investigation.
The state insurance department's embezzlement investigation began in August after Peggy Sheffield, owner of Southlake Insurance Agency, first contacted the Gore Police Department over the possible mishandling of funds by a former employee, according to court records.
According to the investigation, three of the computer crimes involved incidents where Sands pocketed the premium payments and then electronically submitted payments to the insurance company by debiting the Southlake account, causing a loss to the agency.
The remaining computer crimes involved three incidents in which Sands electronically secured insurance for herself or her husband, and debited the premium payments from the Southlake account.
The dismissed embezzlement counts involved four incidents through which Sands allegedly accepted premium payments, but never purchased insurance for the policyholders, instead using the money herself.
