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Former Insurance Agent Admits Guilt in Insurance Fraud

August 4, 2010

Jackson--An Olive Branch resident has pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges in an insurance fraud case, Attorney General Jim Hood announced today.

Eric Jerome Boone, 50, of Olive Branch, appeared before Judge Robert Chamberlin in DeSoto County Circuit Court yesterday and entered an open plea to the charges meaning the defendant refused to accept the state's recommended sentence and threw himself on the mercy of the court.

Judge Chamberlin sentenced Boone to seven years, two suspended, five to serve with two years of supervised probation, to run consecutive to a Forrest County conviction Boone is serving at the Restitution Center in Forrest County.

 "I applaud Judge Chamberlin on sending this insurance agent to the pen," said Hood.  "Insurance fraud causes all of our rates to increase."

The embezzlement investigation by the Insurance Fraud Unit of the Attorney General's Office showed that Boone, while working as an insurance agent, collected premium payments in the amount of $3,452.40 and failed to deposit them, using them instead for his own purpose.

Special Assistant Attorney General Marvin Sanders prosecuted this case for the Attorney General's Office.