AG, PSP Announces Charges in Illegal Alien Scheme and Life Insurance Fraud

EMBREEVILLE - Three individuals, who were allegedly involved in a life insurance fraud scheme and a leasing program scheme that targeted illegal aliens, were arrested Friday by the Pennsylvania State Police following a joint investigation with the Attorney General's Office.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said the investigation, which began in June 2006, focused on Linda Escobedo, 42, Kinzers, and George Bradford, 46, 1Downingtown, who were the owners of A-Affordable Insurance Agency, 53 N. Bailey Road, Thorndale, Chester County.

Evidence and testimony regarding the case was presented to a statewide investigating grand jury, which recommended the criminal charges being filed today.

Leasing Program Scheme

According to the grand jury, A-Affordable marketed a "leasing program" that provided people without driver's licenses or any other appropriate identifying documentation with vehicle registrations, insurance and tags, enabling them to drive cars in Pennsylvania.

"Our investigation revealed that A-Affordable directed their leasing program to illegal aliens," Corbett said. "Hundreds of illegal aliens paid substantial fees for A-Affordable's services and in exchange were improperly issued license plates, registrations, insurance cards and bogus driver's licenses."

The grand jury found that A-Affordable distributed circulars directed to car dealers and illegal immigrants. One of these circulars read:
"Urgent!! Don't loose (sic) sales because of PennDOT's latest bulletin! Your Mexican clients (and your sales will suffer!)."

Corbett explained that this circular referred to changes in PennDOT regulations, which had the effect of prohibiting illegal aliens from titling and registering cars in Pennsylvania.

Another portion of a circular read:
"Solution for Mexican or International Licenses" and provided a detailed explanation for A-Affordable's leasing program.

In Pennsylvania, individuals without a Pennsylvania driver's license generally cannot get vehicles titled and registered. To circumvent this limitation on behalf of illegal aliens who purchased cars, A-Affordable allegedly submitted title and registration paperwork to PennDOT falsely identifying itself as the owner the cars, accompanied by Escobedo's driver's license, and then allegedly "leased" the illegal aliens' cars back to them for a fee.

The grand jury found that Richard Weaver, 78, Coatesville, assisted in this part of the scheme. Weaver, a car dealer and notary in Coatesville, improperly obtained license plates, completed PennDOT paperwork and issued license plates to drivers on A-Affordable's behalf.

Corbett said that in some instances Weaver provided these items to A-Affordable so that they could complete paperwork and issue tags in house. A-Affordable masked the true identity of the person filling out these forms by falsely stating on them that they were completed by an actual authorized issuing agent and forging the signature of that person.

"These defendants were incredibly deceptive in their scheme," Corbett said. "They not only deceived PennDOT, but they deceived the illegal aliens who were their customers.

According to the grand jury, A-Affordable required illegal aliens to buy documents called "International Driver's Licenses," which provided no driving privileges, despite what customers were told.

Corbett said that as another part of the lease scheme, A-Affordable required customers to buy auto insurance and then provided them with proof of insurance cards. However, A-Affordable charged undisclosed fees in excess of the actual premiums and submitted false and undocumented information about the identity, residence, license status of the insured drivers and ownership of the cars to the insurance companies.

"The only people who won in this scheme were Ms. Escobedo, Mr. Bradford and A-Affordable," Corbett said. "A-Affordable created a scheme that took advantage of their customers, deceived PennDOT and ripped off the insurance companies."

According to the grand jury, hundreds of people took advantage of A-Affordable's lease program and were provided license plates, registrations, bogus driver's licenses and proof of insurance cards to illegally drive cars in Pennsylvania.

Life Insurance Policy Scheme

Corbett said that A-Affordable's second scheme involved creating Globe Life insurance policies in names of individuals who did not ask for such a policy, or in many instances, did not even know that such a policy was being created in their name.

The grand jury found that A-Affordable used the names of illegal aliens, other auto insurance customers, its employees, people unconnected to A-Affordable and fictional names to produce over 2,600 Globe Life insurance policies.

"The only purpose for creating these bogus policies was so that A-Affordable could reap the commission benefits," Corbett said.

Corbett said that George Bradford was the producer for Globe Life Insurance. After policies were created, A-Affordable allegedly paid the premiums for two or three months, which were generally under $16 total. Once Globe Life received premium payments for two months, it paid a commission of $200, of which A-Affordable received $135.

Corbett said that Globe Life records show that A-Affordable paid approximately $33,000 in premiums on the bogus policies, which resulted in a theft from Globe Life of approximately $450,000 in commissions. A-Affordable allegedly received approximately $300,000 in commissions from Globe Life.

Corbett thanked the Pennsylvania State Police and noted that this is part of a continuing investigation.

The case will be prosecuted in Chester County by Senior Deputy Attorney General M. Eric Schoenberg of the Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Section.

Escobedo, Bradford and Weaver are each charged with seven counts of insurance fraud, three counts of theft by deception, three counts of forgery, three counts of false swearing, three counts of unsworn falsification to authorities, three counts of tampering with public records or information, two counts of unlawful use of a computer, two counts of false application for certificate of title or registration, one count of corrupt organizations, one count of criminal conspiracy, one count of deceptive or fraudulent business practices, one count of identity theft and one count of altered, forged or counterfeit documents and plates.

They each face a maximum penalty of up to 190 years in prison and a up to a $390,000 fine.