A father and son from the South Bay have been charged with fraud and theft after an alleged years-long life-insurance scheme that netted them and three others $1.4 million in ill-gotten commissions.
A complaint from an alleged victim’s former lawyer in 2021 spurred an investigation by California’s insurance regulator that led to the arrest last month of Daniel Jon Carpenter, 62, of Morgan Hill, his son Blake Carpenter, 27 of San Jose, and two others, while another suspect remains at large.
The California Department of Insurance alleged that the elder Carpenter “orchestrated” the fraud affecting more than two dozen people, nearly all from the Bay Area.
Daniel Carpenter was arrested March 19 and arraigned the next day in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose on charges of insurance fraud, grand theft, and identity theft, all felonies. His son, who turned himself in March 24, is charged with felony insurance fraud and felony grand theft.
Another San Jose man, Noah Maxwell Kuh, 26, was arrested March 20 and charged with felony insurance fraud, the insurance department said.
Alejandro Carlos, 25, of Gilroy, wanted for alleged felony fraud and felony grand theft, “remains a fugitive,” the department said.
A Southern California woman, Natorae Marie Wettstein, 56, was charged with felony insurance fraud and felony grand theft. She turned herself in March 26, the department said.
The Carpenters, Kuh and Wettstein are scheduled to appear in court in San Jose on April 25 for plea hearings.
All five accused have been licensed insurance agents, with Kuh and Wettstein currently under license suspension, the department said.
The group are alleged to have misled clients about the terms of life insurance policies and deceived insurance companies about who was selling the policies, in order to collect commissions on more than $2,000,000 in insurance premiums paid by purported victims, the department said.
“This deceptive scheme allowed them to collect unearned commissions from four insurance carriers between 2017 and 2023,” the department said.
Twenty-eight people, all but one from the Bay Area, were victimized, and the department said it helped them recover more than $2 million they collectively spent.
The lawyer who complained cited forgery and insurance fraud related to life insurance policies sold by Daniel Carpenter, the department said.
Santa Clara County Superior Court records show Daniel Carpenter and Wettstein were sued by a client named Alex Lowry in 2021. Lowry alleged Carpenter forged his signature to buy two $7.5 million life insurance policies, and that because Carpenter lacked authorization to write the policies, Wettstein was named as the agent. Wettstein in court filings fought the claims, arguing that Lowry had been repaid by the insurer the $190,000 in premiums he paid, and that he knowingly held the two policies. Carpenter in a court filing denied Lowry’s claims, but said he was willing to discuss a settlement.
Lowry dropped the case last August under circumstances not made clear in court records. His lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.