ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — An Allegheny County insurance agent is facing charges after he allegedly stole around $60,000 from customers.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said Chad Skena, 47, faces several felony and misdemeanor charges of theft and access device fraud for the alleged crimes.
Skena, operator of Chad G. Skena Insurance Agency, stole the money between August 2020 and March 2022 by offering customers money-saving services that didn’t exist, officials said. He took as much as $25,000 from one customer.
Skena contacted existing customers of his insurance agency and offered to “bundle” their insurance policies or offered “special COVID-19 rates” to save them money. When victims confronted Skena, he said the money was “accidentally” withdrawn from their accounts and did not provide refunds until police intervened.
Skena allegedly misappropriated or failed to apply payments from insurance policyholders to their accounts. Instead, Skena is charged with depositing the money into his own personal accounts.
“This defendant’s predatory actions allegedly cost consumers thousands of dollars — consumers who thought they were being offered discounts,” Attorney General Michelle Henry said. “The investigation showed that the defendant tried to dodge victims who wanted their money back, until the police became involved. Insurance fraud is a serious crime that drives up costs and premiums for all Pennsylvanians.”
The payments that Skena took from each victim ranged from $800 to $24,000, the Attorney General’s Office said.
Skena was released on non-monetary bail.
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