FORMER PRESIDENT OF COMPANY INCARCERATED
FOR FELONY THEFT AND INSURANCE FRAUD

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Alfred Murray Slattery, 47, former president and owner of Towson-based National Insurance Services, was sentenced today after having pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court of Baltimore County in July to committing felony insurance fraud and stealing over $1,574,000 from various companies. The Honorable Vicki Ballou-Watts sentenced Slattery to 10 years’ incarceration suspending all but 18 months of that sentence. Upon his release, he will be placed on five years probation. He was also ordered to pay $1,675,091 in restitution.

In a statement of facts presented by the prosecutor at the time of the guilty plea, the Court learned that, between January 2000 and January 2002, Slattery created numerous fraudulent and/or fictitious insurance policies and instituted premium finance agreements on these policies. Slattery often used legitimate company names but forged signatures to obtain illegitimate premium finance agreements. He then would use phony addresses so that individuals whose names were being used on these policies would not receive any documentation regarding them. In other instances, Slattery would receive premium payments in full from a customer but not remit these payments to the respective insurance company. He would then also institute a premium finance agreement without the insured’s knowledge.

Slattery’s former partner, Michelle Lyons Baker, entered a guilty plea yesterday to felony theft and insurance fraud. She will be sentenced on January 29, 2004. Both convictions follow a joint investigation conducted by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Office of the Attorney General.

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