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A former insurance agent based in Grimes, Iowa has pleaded guilty to third degree theft, identity theft and third degree fraudulent practice.
Nicholas Menough, an agent previously associated with Farm Bureau Financial Services, received suspended sentences and was placed on probation for the charges.
An earlier news release from the Iowa Insurance Division (IID) said that Menough had allegedly “engaged in falsifying insurance policy applications and altering financial documents related to [the] sale of insurance policies in order to receive advanced sales commissions.” After an investigation launched by the insurance agency’s Fraud Bureau in April 2017, Menough was finally arrested on February 05, 2018.
The IID said that Menough had voluntarily forfeited his license in July 2017.
Dallas County News reported that the Farm Bureau Financial Services branch that he worked for has been listed on Google as “permanently closed.”
Menough was initially charged with two counts each of second degree theft, forgery, insurance fraud (for presenting false information), identity theft over $1,000 and second degree fraudulent practice.
The former agent’s plea reduced one count of second degree theft to third degree theft, one count of identity theft over $1,000 down to identity theft under $1,000, and one count of second degree fraudulent practice down to third degree fraudulent practice. The rest of the charges were dismissed by Judge Heather Lauber.
For his crime, Menough was sentenced to two years in prison for each charge. He also received two years of probation for each charge and was ordered to submit a DNA sample.
