A former chief petty officer will serve up to 30 months in prison for his role in an insurance fraud scheme, the Department of Justice’s Southern California District announced Tuesday.
Christopher Toups was sentenced to 30 months in prison, likely in Georgia, according to his online court documents. The judge also ordered a restitution of $2 million to be paid to Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance, the insurance program Toupus and his alleged codefendants conducted a fraud scheme against.
Toups pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in October 2022, USNI News previously reported. As a part of his plea deal, the U.S. State’s Attorney’s Office dropped the other charges of wire fraud and making a false and fraudulent claim.
“Lying and stealing funds meant for injured service members is appalling,” U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in the DoJ release.
As part of the plea agreement, Toups admitted that he worked with his ex-wife Kelene McGrath, Navy Dr. Michael Villarroel and others between 2012 to 2015 to get life insurance payments by reporting fake or exaggerated injuries or disabilities, USNI News previously reported.
Toups filed a Jan. 17, 2012 claim with Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance saying he fell during a training exercise, leading to a catastrophic injury, according to the indictment in Toups case. He also worked with other sailors to file fake claims. He would then receive a portion of the payment that the insurance company issued to the sailors.
The DoJ also announced that Marquis Hooper, a former Navy information technology manager, was sentenced to five years and five months in prison for hacking a computer database and selling protected personal information he obtained.
Hooper, along with his wife, stole PPI from more than 9,000 people, selling it for $160,000 in BitCoin, according to the DoJ’s news release.
