Former Cecil insurance broker charged by state attorney general
A former Cecil Township insurance broker was arraigned Wednesday on charges filed by the state attorney general’s office for allegedly stealing more than $93,000 from clients.
Mark D. Bleier, 44, of 1352 High Oak Court, Pittsburgh, was arraigned before District Judge Traci McDonald on charges of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, insurance fraud, misapplication of entrusted property and tampering with records or identification.
The investigation was initiated by the insurance fraud section after receiving several complaints from business owners involving insurance transactions with Bleier. The state Department of Insurance determined Bleier failed to remit premium payments for at least nine companies.
The DOI received a complaint in 2014 after policies were reportedly terminated for nonpayment of the premiums. Those insured had reportedly paid Bleier and his insurance company, Steel City Insurance Inc., which was on Millers Run Road. The agency has since closed. Bleier’s individual and agency insurance licenses were revoked by the state in August 2017.
Additional complaints were filed with the state insurance department by other customers who said they had made payments for insurance coverage between 2014 and 2016, only to learn the policies had been cancelled for nonpayment. At least one customer learned through another insurance agent he had no coverage on his business property.
In one instance, a customer of Bleier made a $38,984 down payment for various insurance coverages for his company. The company questioned the policy’s status a few weeks later, after it did not receive any information on the coverage. Bleier provided the company with a “certificate of liability insurance,” but the company never received any specific policy information from the insurer.
Two months later, one of the company’s employees was involved in a head-on collision with another driver while operating a company vehicle. The other driver suffered serious injuries. The company’s owner called Bleier, who didn’t respond until several days later, saying he would handle it.
During this time, the company owner discovered his company did not have the insurance coverage he believed he purchased through Bleier. Fortunately, Bleier never submitted a change of broker request – so the company was still covered under a previously purchased policy obtained through another broker. The claim was settled with the injured driver for $1,000,000.
Bleier is free on $100,000 bond. He faces a May 3 preliminary hearing before McDonald.