Former Woodward Police Officer Sentenced for Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud in Insurance Scam

OKLAHOMA CITY—Clinton Ivan Rutledge, 42, of Woodward, Oklahoma, was sentenced last week to serve 10 days of weekend imprisonment and three years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. In addition, Rutledge was ordered to pay $21,163.63 in restitution to Farmers Insurance Group and serve 104 hours of community service.

On October 10, 2013, a federal grand jury indicted Rutledge and Christopher Dean Noreuil, 40, also from Woodward, charging them with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Specifically, it was alleged that in January 2013, Rutledge asked Noreuil to take and hide Rutledge’s 2004 Ford F-250 pickup truck and 1999 TexMex flatbed trailer to make it appear that the truck and trailer had been stolen. Rutledge then reported the truck and trailer as stolen to the police and filed a false and fraudulent insurance claim with his insurer, Farmers Insurance Group. As a result, Farmers Insurance paid more than $21,000 on the false claim. Rutledge is a former Woodward Police Department officer and a former reserve deputy for the Woodward County Sheriff’s Office.

On October 20, 2013, Rutledge pled guilty to knowingly conspiring with others to commit mail fraud. United States District Judge Joe Heaton sentenced Rutledge to serve 10 days of weekend imprisonment, three years of probation supervised by the United States Probation Office, serve 104 hours of community service, and pay $21,163.63 in restitution to Farmers Insurance Group.

Noreuil pled guilty on November 19, 2013, and is awaiting sentencing.

This case was the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Maxfield Green.