Ex-Adjuster Held in Suspected Theft

A 42-year-old Simi Valley man was arrested Friday on suspicion of embezzling $896,000 while working as a claims adjuster for an insurance company.

Richard Alan Farquar was arrested at his residence about 4 p.m. on suspicion of grand theft, said Ron Warthen, chief investigator in the fraud division of the Los Angeles office of the state’s Department of Insurance.

Farquar, on probation for a 1985 felony grand theft conviction, was being held without bail in the Los Angeles County Jail.

A former insurance salesman, Farquar was convicted in 1985 of stealing more than $90,000 in premiums from customers who had bought policies from him. Farquar was sentenced to 300 days in Los Angeles County Jail and was ordered to pay restitution to the people he defrauded.

Warthen said Farquar paid that restitution with some of the money he embezzled from Aetna Life & Casualty in Woodland Hills.

From June, 1987, to May, Farquar wrote 75 checks totaling $896,000 to fictitious individuals while working as a claims adjuster at Aetna, Warthen said. The money was deposited into two banks under phony business accounts controlled by Farquar, Warthen said.

Aetna officials uncovered the scheme in May during a routine audit of company files, Warthen said.

When company officials confronted Farquar, he denied any wrongdoing and quit his job, Warthen said. After further investigation, Aetna contacted the Department of Insurance.

Warthen said Farquar has turned over to the insurance company ownership of six condominiums and a Jaguar convertible he purchased with money he had embezzled. Warthen said as much as $300,000 has not been recovered.