Kent woman sentenced to more than six years for insurance scam of elderly

A former Kent insurance agent received a prison sentence of six years, three months for stealing more than $1 million in retirement funds from five elderly clients.

Jasmine Jamrus-Kassim, 49, was sentenced March 9 in Seattle by King County Superior Court Judge Sharon Armstrong for 10 counts of first-degree theft. The charges included a vulnerable victim aggravator since the five victims ranged in age from 74 to 90, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The aggravator was used as a basis for prosecutors to request the exceptional sentence of six years, three months.

Jamrus-Kassim pleaded guilty in October to 10 counts of first-degree theft. The standard sentence range is three years, seven months to four years, nine months.

Washington State Patrol troopers arrested Jamrus-Kassim in March 2011 in Kent. Prosecutors charged her with 21 counts of first-degree theft.

Chicago-based Bankers Life and Casualty, one of the companies that Jasmine Jamrus-Kassim worked for as an independent agent, agreed in October to replace the money stolen by the agent.

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said an investigation by his office found that five clients of Jamrus-Kassim repeatedly cashed out large portions of their annuities with Banker’s Life and Casualty from 2007 to 2009. The money was then pocketed by Jamrus-Kassim. She resigned from Bankers in January 2011.

Jamrus-Kassim’s financial records showed thousands of dollars spent on clothes, jewelry and a trip to Mexico, according to the insurance commissioner’s office. They also show large payments to online psychic advisors, including $20,000 in charges from one psychic website in one month.

The payment amounts to the victims by Bankers were $512,112, $488,071, $116,070, $65,321 and $929. The victims were from Bellevue, Renton and Seattle. One of the victims died before learning that his money would be repaid.