Central Mutual Insurance sues to recover embezzlement payout

Alleging two Texas residents "concocted a scheme" to embezzle money from a company it insures, Central Mutual Insurance has filed suit against Carol Hamilton and Penny Crocker.

The suit was filed Nov. 1 in Jefferson County District Court.

According to the petition, Hamilton, a nurse, and Crocker, an office manager, were employees of a company called Infectious Disease. The two supposedly "concocted a scheme by which phony invoices for drugs were created and presented to the company."

"The payments for the phony invoices were deposited by Hamilton and Crocker into an account they set up," the suit states. "The defendants ... embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Infectious Disease was covered by Central Mutual and able to claim up to $50,000 in damages, court papers say.

Central Mutual is suing the defendants for actual and exemplary damages.

The insurance company is represented by Dallas attorney Phillip Wray II of Lewis & Backhaus.

Judge Milton Shuffield, 136th District Court, has been assigned to the case.

Case No. D188-718