Louisiana insurance fraud investigation turns deadly
Two Louisiana insurance fraud investigators were killed on June 7 while attempting to collect information from an insurance agent.
Reports say that the two investigators, Kim Sledge and Rhett Jeansonne, went to Lavergne Insurance Company in Ville Platte, LA to collect information on a case for the state’s Department of Insurance. The company owner, Melvin Lavergne, shot the two before barricading himself in his office. Both Sledge and Jeansonne died from their wounds.
SWAT teams and police took over the streets and attempted to get Lavergne to surrender, but he fatally shot himself before any progress was made.
Reports from the Louisiana Department of Insurance say that Lavergne had faced several charges and citations. In 2009, the Department fined him $16,500, suspended his license and accused him of insurance fraud. In 2010, complaints were filed against the company alleging that Lavergne was not sending payments from customers to the insurance companies. In late January, 2011, the Louisiana State Police arrested Lavergne for insurance fraud. His license was then suspended and he was given notice of revocation, a report says.
Louisiana’s Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon called the shootings “tragic and unnecessary.”
Jeansonne had been an investigator with the Department’s Fraud Section since 2006. Sledge was an 11 year veteran of the Department.
