2 Insurance Agents Charged in Bilking of Senior Citizens : Fraud: Investigators say the pair made up to $400,000 by overcharging older women for health policies and by pressuring them into investing in a bogus company.

Two insurance agents have been charged with grand theft for bilking elderly victims of thousands of dollars by overcharging them for health insurance and persuading them to invest in a bogus company, investigators said Monday.

The agents--Eric P. Jacobs, 43, of Burbank, and Mitchell S. Horowitz, 39, of Northridge--preyed on elderly, often frail and lonely women, investigators said.

In some cases, Jacobs and Horowitz took victims to dinner for their birthdays after accompanying them to banks where the victims withdrew money from savings accounts to invest in a company called Senior Citizens Concepts, investigators said.

The company was essentially a front for a bank account the two men had set up, said Los Angeles Police Detective Greg Schwien. “They would split the money among themselves. They spent it on things like expensive trips to Europe.”

The yearlong investigation by state Department of Insurance investigators and the Los Angeles Police Department fraud unit indicates Jacobs and Horowitz may have taken up to $400,000 from as many as nine clients over the past five years, investigators said.

But three of the alleged victims have died and another has become senile, making it difficult to file charges in those cases, officials said. As a result, Jacobs has been charged with five counts of grand theft and Horowitz with four counts in connection with five victims who lost a total of about $80,000, said Dennis Ward, chief investigator for the state insurance department.

The two men face an Aug. 15 preliminary hearing after pleading not guilty and posting $100,000 bail each last week, officials said. A grand theft charge carries a penalty of up to four years in prison, and state officials will seek to revoke the agents’ insurance licenses, officials said.

“What they were doing is what we see happening in many of the scams involving senior citizens,” Ward said. “The con man will find a victim, most often an elderly woman living alone, who does not have a lot of contact with other people and is managing her own affairs. They gain her confidence, come by for coffee and doughnuts and use the relationship to start getting money.”

Horovitz and Jacobs, who represented numerous insurance companies and worked out of their homes, targeted potential clients in the Silver Lake and Hollywood areas through lists purchased from marketing services, Ward said. The two men used a combination of friendliness and intimidation to sell health insurance supplementing Medicare coverage, officials said.

“Some of them said they were fearful and felt they had to pay in order to get them out of the house,” Schwien said. Victims said the 300-pound Horovitz had a gruff, aggressive manner and Jacobs adopted a pleasant approach, according to investigators.

The pair allegedly overcharged clients for bona fide policies, pocketing the difference, and sold unnecessary policies to earn commissions, investigators said. They also convinced clients to invest in Senior Citizens Concepts, promising an 11% rate of return, officials said.

None of the victims received any earnings, and only one was shown documents indicating that she was making money on her investment, Schwien said.

“Some were suspicious, but not to the point where they would report it to authorities,” Schwien said. The investigation began after one woman’s lawyer checked on her policy with an insurance company. Company officials discovered that she apparently had been overcharged, and they contacted state officials, investigators said.

Attorneys for Horovitz and Jacobs were not available for comment Monday.