NYSID Announces Fraud Arrest of Brockport Agent

New York’s Superintendent of Insurance Gregory V. Serio announced the arrest of Lon T. Horton, 54, a licensed insurance agent and broker, and owner of Horton Insurance Services, located in Brockport, N.Y. on charges of “petit larceny, three counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the 2nd degree, falsifying business records in the 1st degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the 1st degree.”

The charges allege that Horton “received an application and premium money from an individual for workers’ compensation coverage which he never submitted to the insurance carrier.” Investigators from the NYSID’s Frauds Bureau and the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General’s Office, noted that during the investigation Horton had provided them “with documents which indicated that he had submitted the application and premium to the insurance carrier, however the investigation revealed that the carrier had stopped accepting new workers’ compensation business in the State of New York as of June 2002.”

He is also charged with providing “a fraudulent certificate of workers’ compensation insurance coverage in the name of a prospective policyholder, which was presented to the New York State Insurance Fund. He was in possession of a forged workers’ compensation policy application which he presented to the New York State Insurance Frauds Bureau during the investigation.”

The NYSID urged “any New Yorkers who may have questions or concerns about their dealings with Mr. Horton or Horton Insurance Services to call the Insurance Department’s Buffalo office at 716-847-7176.”

It noted that the investigation had “also uncovered an additional fraudulent workers’ compensation application that had been submitted to an insurer fraudulently listing the type of business to defraud the carrier of the proper workers’ compensation premium.”

Horton was placed under arrest and arraigned before Judge Hammel in the Town of Clarkson and released on his own recognizance to reappear on November 17. 2003. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.