Lynn “Skipper” Strickland of Parker County, who pretended to be an insurance agent, was sentenced today to 14 years in state prison for fraud.
From 2014 through 2016, Strickland schemed to defraud a Texarkana woman out of over $406,000 by stealing money she thought was going to pay for insurance policies.
Brian Chandler, a Texas Department of Insurance attorney, said Strickland, 60, claimed to be a licensed insurance agent though TDI had revoked his license years after he pleaded guilty to a similar crime in Brazos County. In 2011, that crime resulted in Strickland being placed on 10 years’ probation.
As part of Strickland’s guilty plea and sentence today, 299th State District Court Judge Karen Sage of Travis County ordered him to pay restitution to the victim.
The investigation was conducted by TDI’s Fraud Unit and prosecuted by Chandler, who is embedded within the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. The embedded-prosecution program allows TDI fraud prosecutors to pursue cases protecting consumers under the authority of local elected district attorneys.
Margaret Moore, Travis County’s district attorney, said: “I am proud of the partnership between the Texas Department of Insurance and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. It has been very successful in bringing white-collar criminals to justice.”
Chandler says you can protect yourself against similar scams “by checking with your insurance company if you hear or see something that doesn’t seem quite right. Also, you can always check an agent’s license status on TDI’s website, tdi.texas.gov.”
