Ex-Virginia Insurance Agent Pleads Guilty to Fraud

A former Charlottesville, Va., insurance agent has been sentenced to seven months behind bars for duping customers who believed they were buying insurance from him.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 32-year-old Graham Hutson Messer of Bremo Bluff was sentenced in federal court in Charlottesville on Monday. He pleaded guilty in March to one count of insurance fraud.

In addition to prison time, Messer also must repay more than $60,000 to his victims.

Federal prosecutors say Messer sold a variety of policies through various insurance companies. Some of the policies he sold were placed with the proper companies, but many were not. Instead, he kept the premiums for himself.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Heaphy says Messer’s actions left families vulnerable because they thought they had insurance when they didn’t.