A 37-year-old former licensed insurance agent was arrested Thursday on charges of stealing about $600,000 from 18 victims through embezzlement and an insurance scheme.
Joseph Ramiro Garcia, formerly of Brea, was charged in December with 19 counts of grand theft, seven counts of assisting in a false claim, three counts of theft from an elderly adult, and a count of burglary, all felonies.
He also faces sentencing enhancement allegations for aggravated white collar crime exceeding $500,000.
Garcia is accused of filing seven fraudulent life insurance applications from December 2014 through January 2015 in which he collected about $20,382, according to the California Department of Insurance. He was also accused of embezzling about $598,906 from 18 victims, according to an insurance department investigator in court papers.
Garcia was also accused of failing to roll over IRA and 401-K accounts for clients and pocketing the money to spend on designer clothes, Disneyland season passes, restaurants and travel, according to court records.
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