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Thursday, January 08, 2009 10:27 AM Wilson insurance agent indicted on fraud charges By Gina Childress | Times Staff Writer A third Wilson County area man has been indicted on fraud charges in what federal investigators have dubbed "Operation Under the Barn." The federal indictment, which was filed Nov. 12, alleges that Robert Carl Stokes, 926 Brookside Drive, Wilson, participated in a scheme with tobacco farmers, tobacco warehousemen and crop insurance adjusters that "defrauded insurance companies of funds ultimately reimbursed by the United States of America and to launder the proceeds and profits of the underlying fraud." The indictment alleges that the amount of the fraud totaled approximately $3.4 million. Stokes ran the local Hallmart Insurance Agency office on Airport Boulevard. According to the indictment, during 2005 and 2006, Stokes and others recruited tobacco farmers to take out insurance polices through his insurance business in order to make false insurance claims and to "hide some or all of their tobacco production by selling it in nominee names or for cash to co-conspiring warehousemen." The farmers who participated in the scheme ended up being paid twice for each pound of their tobacco crop and the other conspirators profited from the insurance commission proceeds, collecting a share of the hidden tobacco sales and dividends from the subsequent sale of the crop, the indictment claims. In June, Kenneth Gene Kelly of Lucama and Joseph Eugene Eason of Macclesfield, who were both involved in the scheme, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Neither Eason nor Kelly, who both face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the value of the funds involved in the offense, whichever is greater, has been sentenced. Stokes was ordered to forfeit to the United States any property obtained through the crop scheme that would include personal property, real property and currency. Stokes was arrested and released from custody Nov. 25 after executing a $100,000 unsecured bond. Stokes is scheduled to be arraigned in Federal Court in Raleigh Jan. 26 at 9 a.m. Efforts to reach Stokes for a comment were unsuccessful. gina@wilsontimes.com | 265-7821 |
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susan lamm said...
this comes to me as a great surprise. carl always seeemed to be a very honest businessman. as a former employee, he always ran an honest business.
Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Weary said...this comes to me as a great surprise. carl always seeemed to be a very honest businessman. as a former employee, he always ran an honest business.
Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Farmers got paid twice for their tobacco... I'm getting charged twice as much for my cigarettes... Rob Reiner is satan... it all makes sense.
Thursday, January 08, 2009 at 6:36 PM
