By Times Staff
A 34-year-old Plant City insurance agent was sentenced to spend 18 months in prison and pay back $150,371 to her victim — her employer — by a federal judge Thursday, Nov. 12.
Heidi Calonge was also ordered by U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore to spend six months on house arrest after her release from federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Calonge pleaded guilty to eight federal charges, including counts of bank fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud on Aug. 13.
Authorities said Calonge worked at a small insurance company called Express Insurance of Plant City. She “devised a scheme to defraud the owners out of bonus and commission checks,” authorities said, by posing as the owner of the Plant City business and stealing the insurance company checks meant for the business.
She registered a similar corporate name as her employer and opened a P.O. box and bank account using that name, authorities said. She spent the money she defrauded her employer out of on herself and her family, and opened a competing insurance business.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.