Bainbridge insurance agent arrested for theft

Friday, November 13, 2009

GREENCASTLE -- More than a year after an investigation into his business dealings was launched, a Bainbridge insurance agent has been arrested and charged with five felonies.

A warrant for the arrest of Bradley K. Buchanan, 43, of Greencastle was issued Thursday afternoon, and Buchanan was taken into custody just before 11 a.m. today.

Buchanan is charged with Class C felony corrupt business influence (also known as racketeering) and four counts of Class D felony theft.

According to an affidavit of probable cause prepared by Indiana State Police Detective Brent Gulinson, Ronda Ankney and Nikolas Mann of the Indiana Department of Insurance met with ISP First Sgt. Scott Stockton on Oct. 30, 2008 to discuss a complaint against Buchanan their office had received.

Buchanan owned Buck Insurance, located in Bainbridge. After they received the complaint, Ankney and Mann executed a search warrant and seized records from Buchanan's office in order to conduct an audit.

The investigation turned up several instances in which Buchanan had taken payments from customers and not started insurance policies.

One of those customers was Patricia Setty of Setty's Real Estate, Cloverdale. According to the affidavit, Setty paid Buchanan $1,313 in May 2006 for an insurance policy for her business, only to discover later that the policy had never been started even though the check she wrote to Buchanan had been cashed.

"Additionally, Setty stated that Buchanan went so far as to provide her with a false policy number to make her think that she actually had an insurance policy in force when in fact she did not."

Setty told police she had operated her business for nearly a year before she became aware that it was not insured.

"She then confronted Buchanan with this and stated to him that she could have lost her business as a result of his negligence," the affidavit said. "Buchanan then met with her at her office in Cloverdale and returned her initial payment of $1,313 on or about May 7, 2007. Setty stated that she had gone one year without liability insurance, unbeknownst to her, due to Buchanan failing to purchase the policy as represented and promised even though he had cashed her check issued almost a year earlier."

Gulinson called Buchanan's actions "a practice of deceit and deception."

"Time and time again persons paid for services that were never rendered and apparently were never going to be reconciled unless discovered as in the complaint Patricia Setty made."

Gulinson noted in the affidavit that he was "in possession of the identities of numerous other potential victims in the state of Indiana as well as other states who have paid Buchanan for services only to find that they too did not have coverage, or whose checks were simply not cashed, thus leaving them without insurance when it was paid for."

No initial hearing has been set for Buchanan, so he will be in jail until at least Monday, Putnam County Jail Officer Levi Jones said.

The IDOI suspended Buchanan's insurance license on Sept. 11, 2008.

Buchanan incorporated Buck Insurance in 1991, and opened the Bainbridge office in 2008.

At the time of his license suspension, Buchanan said he was "blindsided" by the investigation.

Those who believe they may be victims of Buchanan's alleged fraud should call Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter at 653-2724.

If convicted on all counts, Buchanan could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

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  • he is in trouble now.

    -- Posted by A Mad Bovine on Fri, Nov 13, 2009, at 12:44 PM
  • Wow-

    This town just gets better and better. How many thiefs can you have in one County?

    -- Posted by dbltrbl on Fri, Nov 13, 2009, at 6:02 PM
  • What a shocker! He should have been in jail long ago.Wonder where he got the money for his new business? Looks like he is very proud from the grin on his face. Throw the book at him before he destroys more lives.

    -- Posted by karma54 on Fri, Nov 13, 2009, at 9:27 PM
  • Wow...didn't see this coming....knew of Brad when he was young and he was up to no good then....some things just never change.

    -- Posted by sneaser on Sat, Nov 14, 2009, at 8:46 PM
  • In regards to dbltrbl's comment: seems like people in Putnam County think they can get away with anything! I wonder why that is? Oh, wait- it could be that so many have gone before them with but a slap on the wrist. Why not give it a try?

    -- Posted by '74tiger on Sun, Nov 15, 2009, at 8:22 PM
  • looks like i can finially change the locks on the building he was working out of.

    -- Posted by pthornto on Mon, Nov 16, 2009, at 6:44 AM
  • I would have to say that you can change the locks when his property is out and your legal issues are resolved. Do believe they are still on going arent they.. seems silly to me.

    -- Posted by Oh My Goodness on Tue, Nov 17, 2009, at 12:14 PM
  • To Oh My Goodness: If you think Mr. Huber wrote the comment about the locks, you would be mistaken.

    -- Posted by tiredofwaiting on Tue, Nov 17, 2009, at 5:47 PM
  • I have wasted my time reading every last comment made against this man and I just have one question for all of the mini judges in the audience....what ever happen to innocent until proven guilty? Ohhh yea that's in another world where justice actually prevails blah blah blah. You folks really should wait until you see how the whole story plays out and what missing pieces of the puzzle comes to the forefront instead of jumping to conclusions and judging what very well could be an innocent man wrongfully ... besides which...would you all want a bunch of busy bodies judgin' you in public print ???? c'mon you guys...give mercy this time, and maybe, just maybe someone will grant you the same respect one day when you need it.

    -- Posted by justpassingthur13 on Fri, Feb 5, 2010, at 7:02 PM
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