Insurance agent charged he rey
Published: Thu, Nov. 24, 2005 12:00AM
Modified Thu, Nov. 24, 2005 05:17AM
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closeA veteran Raleigh insurance agent has been charged with embezzling insurance premiums his clients paid.
State insurance fraud investigators arrested James R. Dupree, 63, of 7000 Ebenezer Church Road at his lawyer's office Tuesday, state insurance officials said. Dupree was released from custody on $5,000 bond, a prosecutor said.
The department charges that Dupree stole more than $46,000 in premiums to prop up his business, instead of sending the payments to insurance companies that provided his clients' policies.
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Dupree has already repaid the money, said Ned Mangum, a Wake County assistant district attorney handling the case.
"We have to prosecute him," Mangum said. " ... But all of the money has been repaid."
Dupree, who ran Dupree Insurance Services in Raleigh, had been a licensed insurance agent for 41 years.
The state began investigating Dupree last year after insurance companies reported that Dupree owed them about $14,000, officials there said.
Dupree's lawyer, Hill Allen of Raleigh, said Dupree has cooperated fully with the investigation. "He took some money from an account to pay overhead -- to make sure his employees had food on the table," Allen said Wednesday. "He wasn't out buying cars or boats."
None of his clients lost money or went without insurance, Allen said. Other agents are handling their accounts, he said.
Staff writer Matthew Eisley can be reached at 829-4538 or meisley@newsobserver.com.
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