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Jun 7, 2007 4:32 pm US/Pacific
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Man Gets Year In Jail In Insurance Fraud Case
VAN NUYS, Calif. (CBS) ―
An insurance adjuster who embezzled more than $45,000 from the Woodland Hills company where he worked pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges and was sentenced to a year in county jail and five years probation, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael Kellogg also ordered Jacinto Antonio Barrientos to pay $45,199 in restitution to Unitrin Insurance Co., where the San Fernando Valley man, 35, committed the crimes over a 13-month period beginning in June 2005, prosecutor Loren Naiman said.
Barrientos' friend and co-defendant, Lisa Ann Hiersekorn, 40, of Orange County, pleaded no contest to conspiracy and insurance fraud and received the same sentence Wednesday, Naiman said.
Barrientos added Hiersekorn's name to claims and split the checks with her when they came in, the prosecutor said. Individual checks were in amounts as high as $8,363, Naiman said.
Barrientos successfully obtained checks on 16 out of 19 attempts, until a stop was issued on the payouts.
The defendants were charged in mid-May, and each has remained in custody since being arrested.
The case was investigated by the California Department of Insurance and presented to the district attorney's Auto Insurance Fraud Division.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)