Yakima man sentenced for $2.8 million theft from Spokane company

A 61-year-old Yakima man has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining 24 insurance premium finance loans totaling $2.8 million from a premium finance company based in Spokane.

Edward J. Chadwick, who has no prior criminal history, pleaded guilty in July to second-degree theft in Spokane County Superior Court. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay $847,195.53 in restitution to Tepco in Spokane, Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell said.

The state said Chadwick was an insurance producer and owned an insurance agency called Kelt, primarily selling insurance to transportation companies, a news release from the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner said. The 24 insurance premium finance loans were fraudulently obtained from April 2016 through July 2018 from Tepco.

Chadwick obtained the loans on behalf of several fake trucking companies for commercial policies that didn’t exist, the release said. He also obtained loans on behalf of a real trucking company, a former client, without the client’s knowledge.

Charges against Chadwick were brought after an investigation by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Criminal Investigations Unit, according to the release .

Tepco notified Kreidler’s office of the activity in December 2018, the insurance commissioner’s office said. Chadwick repaid $1.9 million, plus interest to Tepco. The balance of the loans is $898,662, not including interest and fees.

The office said Kreidler revoked Chadwick’s insurance producer license in February 2019. Chadwick challenged the revocation, but Kreidler’s office prevailed and his license was officially revoked in September 2019.