The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. that an Orange County public adjuster was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for pocketing more than $1.2 million from fire victims’ insurance payouts.
Jose Villa, 62, of San Clemente pleaded no contest to eight felony counts of diverting construction funds exceeding $2,350, said Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Stodel in a statement. Villa owned and operated Statewide Claims Advisors Inc. in Irvine.
Villa also admitted to sentencing enhancement allegations dealing with excessive taking of property and aggravated white collar crime, prosecutors said.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor sentenced Villa to prison, imposed a $10,000 fine, and ordered $1.2 million of restitution to the victims.
Villa deposited the victims’ insurance reimbursement checks into his business checking account so he could handle demolition and construction in the months following the fires. He kept most of the insurance money instead of using it for the victims’ benefit, according to prosecutors.
Under the plea agreement, a seven-year prison sentence Villa is serving for another insurance fraud case will run simultaneously with the 10-year term.
Villa, in May 2017, was convicted of two felony counts each of grand theft by embezzlement and forgery for taking insurance proceeds from other fire victims.
The District Attorney’s Office filed charges in October 2017. The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Commercial Crime Bureau and the California Department of Insurance.
The California Department of Insurance revoked Villa’s license to serve as a public adjuster and permanently barred him from applying for or holding any license it issues.