Burtonsville Man Convicted of Making False Death Claim

BALTIMORE, MD ( June 29, 2009) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Alpha Mamadou Bah, 51, of Burtonsville, was sentenced today on a single count of insurance fraud. Judge Durke G. Thompson of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County sentenced Bah to 364 days suspended and ordered Bah to pay a $2,500 fine.

In June 2002, Alpha Bah reported the death of his brother, Elhadj Bah, to Minnesota Life Insurance Company and made a claim on his brother’s life insurance policy. In support of the claim, Bah submitted documents purportedly from the police and a hospital in Guinea, a small nation in western Africa. Minnesota Life investigators discovered documents indicating Elhadj was alive as recently as June of 2004 and records also indicate Elhadj Bah filed Maryland State Tax Returns for 2004.

The indictment and conviction followed a joint investigation conducted by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration and the Office of the Attorney General. In making today’s announcement, Attorney General Gansler thanked Assistant Attorney General Bernard L. Taylor on his successful prosecution of the case.