A 37-year-old claims adjuster pleaded guilty to mail fraud May 5 after stealing from the very company for which he worked.
Ryan Paul Shipman of Billings, Mont. was a claims adjuster for Mountain West Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company where he handled P&C insurance. Shipman had been with the company since Oct. 2003, but from Oct. 2008 through Sept. 2010, he had been scheming with a client, named by the FBI in a press release only as "R.P."
To start raking in some dough, Shipman began to tack on additional charges to claims filed by Mountain West policyholders without their knowledge, ranging from deck repairs and vehicle storage fees to water damage repairs. He and R.P. then created false invoices for the alleged work R.P. or R.P.'s companies had performed, and received payouts from Mountain West's headquarters in Laramie, Wyo.
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