PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY INSURANCE AGENT CONVICTED OF INSURANCE FRAUD

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., announced today that Dorothy Faye Mortimer, 62, of Waldorf, Maryland, was convicted of felony insurance fraud and felony theft in two separate cases, in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County on September 24, 2004. The conviction follows a joint investigation conducted by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Office of the Attorney General.

Mortimer owns a Camp Springs, Maryland insurance agency known as Mortimer and Associates, formerly known as Callis and Faulkner and Associates. Evidence presented by the prosecutor in the first case against Mortimer included that between the dates of October 26, 1999 and March 24, 2004 Mortimer stole over $131,064.56 in insurance premium payments from Matthews Memorial Baptist Church by accepting 17 checks that were intended to be insurance premium payments by the church. Mortimer cashed the checks and used the money for her own purposes. Mortimer never obtained insurance policies for the church. The church discovered the fraud after the church’s main building suffered storm damage on April 4, 2004.

Evidence presented by the prosecutor in the second case included that on May 8, 2003 Mortimer misappropriated and stole insurance premium payments from Preeminent Protective Services, a Prince George’s County security services company. Mortimer accepted $1,800 from the company, which was intended to be the down payment for renewal of the company’s insurance policy. Mortimer used the money for her own purposes and did not renew the company’s insurance policy.

Mortimer has been found guilty of violating the insurance fraud laws of the State of Maryland on two prior occasions. She was found guilty August 14, 2000 of failing to return premium payments and was granted probation before judgment. Mortimer was subsequently convicted on November 30, 2001 of misappropriation of premium payments. She was sentenced to eight years in prison, of which she was ordered to serve 18 months of home detention. The remaining six and one-half years of incarceration were suspended in favor of probation for a period of five years.

The Honorable Herman C. Dawson ordered that the Division of Parole and Probation conduct a pre-sentence investigation of Mortimer and scheduled sentencing for December 10, 2004.

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