Former Indianapolis AFLAC Sales Manager Who Fled to Belize Charged With Fraud

A former Indianapolis insurance executive who fled to Central America has been indicted for what federal prosecutors said Thursday was a $3 million fraud scheme.

The indictment against James R. Harrold, 61, was returned Wednesday, with charges including mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Harrold, the former Indiana sales manager for Columbus, Ga.-based American Family Life Assurance Co., better known as AFLAC, has been jailed in Belize since his Nov. 9 arrest on charges he fraudulently obtained a passport, prosecutors said.

Harrold is charged with persuading people to invest in a scheme in which they would earn monthly profits of 20 percent on a minimum investment of $5,000. He is charged with having defrauded residents of Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Florida of about $3 million between April 1999 and November 2001.

The indictment charges that Harrold used the money to pay his mortgages on a home in Indianapolis and condominiums and real estate in Illinois, Michigan and Florida, along with golf courses in Colorado.

A federal arrest warrant was issued for Harrold in November 2001, but he remained a fugitive until his arrest last week on charges he had used a false name to obtain a passport for the Central American country.

Federal prosecutors are seeking the extradition of Harrold, who faces prison time and millions of dollars in fines if convicted on the fraud and money laundering charges.

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