Each year, the Texas Department of Insurance's fraudinvestigators examine fraud alleged to have been committed bypersons engaged in the insurance business as well as claim fraudcommitted by policyholders, service providers, and others.

In 2005 and the first part of 2006, TDI's Fraud Unitsuccessfully prosecuted 114 cases of people who got busted tryingto make money through insurance fraud. Here, in no particularorder, are five cases on the TDI's list of the top 10 insurancefraud offenders: 1. Walter Neuls, former Colonial CasualtyInsurance Company president, along with his wife Deidra who servedas vice president, schemed to defraud the company out of $750,000.The Neuls used the money to fund an elaborate lifestyle, includingtravel and extravagant personal purchases, resulting in theinsolvency of Colonial Casualty. TDI subsequently placed thecompany in receivership. Both husband and wife received 120 monthsdeferred adjudication for the offense of misapplication offiduciary property and were ordered to pay $750,000 in restitution.2. David Brabandt and his sister Barbara Del Aguila operated AguilaInsurance Agency in Dallas. Neither held valid licenses to sellinsurance in Texas (Brabandt had never been licensed to sellinsurance in Texas and Aguila's license was cancelled in 1998).They were charged in multiple indictments in April 2005 with takingpayments from over 300 victims and not purchasing insurance forthem. They pled guilty on Feb. 1, 2006, to two felony charges, weresentenced to two years in the Texas Department of Corrections, andwere ordered to pay $183,861.29 in restitution. 3. Jack Miller Sr.,a former insurance agent, used the identities of unsuspectingconsumers to submit 30 fraudulent applications for life insuranceto two different insurance companies. Miller's scheme enabled himto obtain $21,850.40 in advance commissions on those purportedsales. Miller pled guilty in Austin to the state jail felony chargeof Aggregated Theft and was sentenced to nine months in a TexasState Jail Facility. 4. An investigation into a staged accidentring in the Dallas area netted the apprehension of nineindividuals. The nine were part of a ring that submitted 71fraudulent accident claims totaling almost $600,000. Several of theclaims were filed using identifying information of people withouttheir knowledge. To date, seven of the nine have been convicted ofEngaging in Organized Criminal Activity. Bobby Williams received 10years deferred adjudication and was ordered to pay $55,021.61 inrestitution; Wallace Williams received 10 years deferredadjudication and was ordered to pay restitution totaling$109,729.29; Michael Williams was sentenced to seven years in theTexas Department of Criminal Justice; Kenneth Clewis was sentencedto five years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, wasfined $1,500 and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of$598,431.69; Lushiul Charles Boston received 10 years probation,was fined $3,000, and was ordered to pay $89,000 in restitution;Nathaniel Williams received five years probation and was ordered topay restitution in the amount of $59,913.20; and Brandon Williamsreceived 10 months deferred adjudication and was fined $1,500. 5.Donn A. Bauer, using a company name of International DiagnosticTechnologies, fraudulently submitted 1,371 health insurance relatedclaims, totaling $425,682 to insurance companies for his servicesas a medical provider. Bauer represented himself as a licensedDoctor of Chiropractic, when, in fact, he is not. Before the schemewas detected, Bauer was able to receive approximately $344,679.87from insurance companies. Bauer received 72 months probation forthe offense of Insurance Fraud, was fined $14,000, and was orderedto pay restitution in the amount of $55,113.91.

e-News will feature the five remaining fraudsters next week.