Ky. Insurance Exec Pleads Not Guilty to Fleeing

A Lexington, Ky., insurance executive who fled the country after being convicted on insurance fraud charges, and two others who federal prosecutors say aided him, pleaded not guilty to charges related to his flight.

Stephen Keller, 40; his wife, Tamara Keller, 34, of Michigan; and Jeffrey Allen Turak, 39, of Granger, Ind., all entered their pleas in U.S. District Court in Lexington. Judge Karl Forester set an Aug. 5 trial date for the three.

A fourth person, David Gallaway of Cancun, Mexico, has been indicted in the case, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Malloy said that Gallaway had not been apprehended.

The indictment alleges that Stephen Keller conspired with Tamara Keller, Turak and Gallaway to flee the country to avoid incarceration. It also says Stephen Keller, with the assistance of his wife and Gallaway, tried to transfer $681,500 in forfeitable assets out of the country, using bank accounts in Florida, Illinois and Latvia.

The indictment alleged that the Kellers and their two children flew on a chartered jet from South Bend, Ind., to Cancun, on Oct. 4.

Stephen Keller, who ran Kelco Inc., was convicted last March on 46 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. At Keller’s sentencing hearing in August, Forester said he would allow Keller, who received a 14-year prison sentence, to remain free pending an appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

Keller was ordered to turn in his passport, but he was arrested Feb. 12 in Panama, where he had bought a house and enrolled his children in daycare.
A Lexington insurance executive who fled the country after being convicted on insurance fraud charges, and two others who federal prosecutors say aided him, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges related to his flight.

Stephen Keller, 40; his wife, Tamara Keller, 34, of Michigan; and Jeffrey Allen Turak, 39, of Granger, Ind., all entered their pleas in U.S. District Court in Lexington. Judge Karl Forester set an Aug. 5 trial date for the three.

A fourth person, David Gallaway of Cancun, Mexico, has been indicted in the case, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Malloy said Thursday that Gallaway had not been apprehended.

The indictment alleges that Stephen Keller conspired with Tamara Keller, Turak and Gallaway to flee the country to avoid incarceration. It also says Stephen Keller, with the assistance of his wife and Gallaway, tried to transfer $681,500 in forfeitable assets out of the country, using bank accounts in Florida, Illinois and Latvia.

The indictment alleged that the Kellers and their two children flew on a chartered jet from South Bend, Ind., to Cancun, on Oct. 4.

Stephen Keller, who ran Kelco Inc., was convicted last March on 46 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. At Keller’s sentencing hearing in August, Forester said he would allow Keller, who received a 14-year prison sentence, to remain free pending an appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

Keller was ordered to turn in his passport, but he was arrested Feb. 12 in Panama, where he had bought a house and enrolled his children in daycare.

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