United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS HUSBAND AND WIFE FROM MESQUITE, TEXAS,
IN INSURANCE FRAUD SCHEME

DALLAS — Following a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, a federal jury convicted George Brent Chivers and his wife, Sherrion Denise Mills Chivers, both 46, on conspiracy and mail fraud offenses related to an insurance fraud scheme, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Specifically, the jury convicted both on one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and two counts of mail fraud. They face a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison per count and a $750,000 fine. Sentencing is set for April 18, 2011, before Judge Lindsay.

The government presented evidence at trial that the Chivers and co-defendant Flynn Patrick Singleton devised a scheme to defraud Hartford Lloyds Insurance Company; Continental Casualty Company/CNA; and Maryland Casualty Company/Zurich American Insurance Company of approximately $432,000, spanning from 2004 to 2006. Late last year, Singleton pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and Ernestine Singleton-Davis, the mother of Flynn Singleton, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement related to her role in the scheme. They are set to be sentenced this Spring.

As part of the scheme, the defendants leased office space for multiple businesses that they purportedly owned, obtained commercial insurance policies insuring the locations, and then falsely reported to local police departments that their vehicles had been car-jacked or burglarized while moving office equipment from one location to another. They then submitted fraudulent claims to the insurance companies seeking reimbursement for telemarketing computer equipment, also known as “autodialers,” that supposedly had been in their vehicles at the time of the robberies or burglaries.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Miller and Stephen Fahey prosecuted the case.

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