TWO MORE ARRESTED IN LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS SCAM

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that George and Barbara Meekins of the 300 block of Bayly Avenue in Cambridge, Maryland have been arrested after being charged with felony theft and conspiracy to commit felony insurance fraud and felony theft. The Meekins were charged with conspiring with John T. Coleman, Jr of Salisbury, Maryland who was charged with felony insurance fraud and felony theft and arrested in November of last year. The indictments follow a joint investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General, the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Maryland State Police.

The charges against Coleman allege that, in June of 2003, he submitted false documentation to an insurance company after the death of his mother and stole approximately $81,000.00 in life insurance proceeds to which his father, John T. Coleman, Sr., was entitled. The charges against George and Barbara Meekins allege that they conspired with John T. Coleman, Jr. to carry out that scheme and that George Meekins additionally stole approximately $31,000.in death benefit beneficiary proceeds from the Maryland State Retirement System in January of 2004 to which John Coleman, Sr. was also entitled.

If convicted, each of the defendants could face up to fifteen years in prison on each count. No trial date has been set. A criminal indictment is merely an accusation of wrongdoing, and every individual is presumed innocent until the charges are proven by the State.