Bixby man sentenced for taking insurance agents' commissions
By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer on Jul 11, 2013, at 4:52 PM Updated on 7/11/13 at 5:31 PM
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A former Oklahoma insurance agent was sentenced Thursday to five years of probation, with the first 10 months under house arrest, for illegally taking commissions earned by insurance agents under him.
Christopher M. Bland of Bixby admitted in his April 10 guilty plea to a wire fraud charge that he defrauded Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co., various agents who worked in his company’s offices in Oklahoma, and a local bank. He opened bank accounts for the agents without the agents’ authorization, forged documents and made false representations to Colonial, according to his plea agreement.
Bland, 36, was indicted Jan. 11 on 14 counts of wire fraud and 12 counts of making false statements to a financial institution. Six counts of aggravated identity theft were added on March 7.
His plea agreement says that in the fall of 2010, he owned and managed Business Consultants of South Tulsa, through which he operated an insurance agency with locations in Tulsa and Tahlequah.
Bland also was a district general agent for Colonial Life at the time, according to the plea document.
He pleaded guilty in April to only one wire fraud charge, but U.S. District Judge John Dowdell was able to consider all relevant conduct in determining his sentence.
The judge ordered Bland to pay more than $20,000 in penalties and to perform 80 hours of community service.
Dowdell also ordered Bland to forfeit his Oklahoma insurance license and to never apply for an insurance license from another state.
Local
The bus had two occupants, a driver and an 8-year-old girl. The driver had a suspended license, police said.
The Regents will consider architectural firms to provide construction of storm-hardened shelters in the housing area on the Norman campus.
CONTACT THE REPORTER
918-581-8359
Email
