Insurance investigator's death spurs fraud inquiry

250 insurance clients of murder suspect report problems

CHARLOTTE -- Michael Arthur Howell, charged with the killing of a state insurance examiner from Harnett County, is now under investigation for possible embezzlement from clients of his insurance agency.

The N.C. Department of Insurance has seized financial documents, including bank statements and receipts, from Howell's Dilworth Insurance Agency, according to a search warrant made public Thursday.

In the application for the warrant, authorities said there is probable cause that the documents constitute evidence of embezzlement.

About 250 clients of Howell's agency have contacted the state to ask questions and complain about problems with their insurance.

Howell, 40, is charged with murder in the death of Sallie Jordan Rohrbach, 44, of Angier. The insurance examiner drove to Charlotte on May 12 to audit Howell's agency on South Boulevard.

Rohrbach disappeared May 14, and her body was discovered last week in a rural area near Fort Mill in York County, S.C.

As an insurance agent, Howell sold policies for at least five insurance companies.

Rohrbach had informed her supervisor in April that GMAC Insurance Co. had pulled its agreement with Howell's agency because of rejected electronic fund transfers, the search warrant application said.

GMAC also had expressed concern to Rohrbach that customers' payments were not being sent promptly by Howell and that the money sent was possibly different from the amount paid, the application said.

Rohrbach was sent to the Dilworth Insurance Agency to conduct "a target examination" of the agency's records.

A day after she arrived, Rohrbach sent an e-mail informing her supervisor that Howell did not keep records at his agency, the application said. Rohrbach said Howell was to bring the records to his agency the following day for her to review.

"According to Rohrbach, she was reviewing bank records in the agency that showed unremitted premiums to the [GMAC] Insurance Company," insurance investigator Chet Effler wrote in the application. "It appears from Rohrbach's e-mail communications the Dilworth Insurance Agency had multiple issues concerning insurance premiums paid by innocent customers."

The search warrant application included copies of e-mail messages from Rohrbach about her findings at Howell's insurance agency. "He has no records on premises," Rohrbach wrote in one message. "Due to the frequency of break-ins [and an armed robbery] he takes everything to storage each night."

In another message, Rohrbach wrote: "He gave me 16 months of bank statements today -- all of 2007 except August and through March of 2008 -- and there were issues in each month. No negative balances, but he is floating money."

Kristin Milam, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Insurance, said Thursday that authorities don't know how many customers might have lost money or had problems with their insurance.

In addition to the 250 customers who called about problems, the state insurance department also has received six written complaints. Five of those complaints involved allegations that premiums had been paid, but the insurance had either been canceled or never issued.

Also Thursday, District Judge Todd Owens found that Howell, who is jailed without bail, is entitled to a court-appointed lawyer.