Former San Fran Agent Charged with Embezzling

A former insurance agent was arraigned last week in the United States District Court in San Francisco after being indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts – including insurance fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) Investigation Division indictment alleges that Mary Anne Locke, a/k/a Mary Ann Diaz, 57, misappropriated and embezzled more than $8 million in insurance premiums between 1997 and 2000. Locke was illegally working in the insurance industry after being prohibited from doing so as the result of a prior felony conviction in 1992.

According to investigators, Locke was an employee and co-owner of the Ray Wersching Insurance Agency in Redwood City, from March 1995 through January 2001 in which Raimund “Ray” Wersching, a former San Francisco 49er’s football player, served as a Farmers Insurance Agent. CDI Investigators obtained numerous search warrants during the investigation to research allegations of premium theft, embezzlement and other violations.

According to the indictment, Locke embezzled and misappropriated more than $8 million in insurance premiums and failed to remit the premiums to Farmers. Locke allegedly directed premiums to accounts controlled by her and Wersching, and subsequently diverted premium payments to pay off tens of thousands of dollars in gambling debts to casinos.