Former 49ers Kicker’s Business Partner Sentenced for Insurance Fraud

An ex-business partner of former San Francisco 49ers kicker Ray Wersching has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for insurance fraud.

Mary Ann Locke was sentenced last week to 39 months in prison and ordered to pay $8.30 million in restitution for embezzling funds belonging to Farmers Insurance Group, according to U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer, who also sentenced the defendant to a three year period of supervised release, which includes the condition that Locke not engage in the business of insurance.

The defendant will begin serving the sentence on December 29.

Locke, 60, of San Jose, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 24, 2005. She was charged with embezzlement of insurance funds, participation in the insurance business following a felony conviction involving dishonesty, wire fraud and money laundering.

According to the indictment, Locke began working at the Wersching Agency in 1995. In 1996 she became a 50 percent owner. In the course of working at the Agency, Locke misappropriated and embezzled more than $456,000 of premiums belonging to Farmers Insurance Group in 1997, more than $1.2 million in 1998, more than $3 million in 1999 and more than $3.4 million in 2000.

Locke pleaded guilty on Jan. 25, 2006, to embezzlement of insurance funds, participation in the insurance business following a felony conviction involving dishonesty and money laundering.

In conjunction with this investigation, Ray Wersching pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor failure to file a corporate tax return and was sentenced to two years of probation with six months of home detention.