BALTIMORE – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced today that Laurelle Monet Manley-Williams, 34, of Glenn Burnie, MD, pleaded guilty to one count of theft scheme at least $25,000 but less than $100,000.
In July of 2018, Manley-Williams was hired as an insurance claims adjuster for the Agency Insurance Company (AIC). From late September 2018 through October 2018, Manley-Williams engaged in a scheme to defraud AIC by altering auto accident insurance claims that she processed for the company. More specifically, Manley-Williams added fraudulent passengers to the insurance claims. When AIC then issued claim benefit checks for those fictitious passengers, Manley-Williams stole those checks and deposited them into her own bank account. To avoid detection, Manley-Williams later deleted those fictitious passengers from AIC’s records. Through this scheme, she was able to steal $11,440.27 from AIC before resigning from the company in mid-October 2018.
In November 2018, Manley-Williams began working as a claims adjuster for the Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company (Allstate). Almost immediately after starting with Allstate, Manley-Williams added fraudulent claimants to the auto accident claims that she processed in order to steal a total of $23,964.96 from Allstate. All of the stolen funds, in the form of checks and digital payments issued to the fictitious passengers, were deposited or transferred into bank accounts controlled or owned by Manley-Williams. The total aggregate loss for AIC and Allstate is $35,405.23.
Manley-Williams is scheduled for sentencing on January 30, 2024, in the Circuit Court for Howard County, before the Honorable Charles Carey Deeley, Jr.
In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Brown thanked his Criminal Division, specifically, the Fraud and Corruption Unit and Assistant Attorney General Timothy Lake who prosecuted the case. Attorney General Brown also thanked Maryland Insurance Administration Forensic Auditor Suzzanne Jones, Investigator Michael Allison, and Investigator William Wagner.
Must have been hired through the “Equity” style interview and application, and not by qualifications.