Two Louisiana Fraud Investigators Killed in Murder-Suicide

What could lead a man to take the lives of two investigators, and then himself? In the case Melvin Lavergne, an insurance agent for over 40 years, it is suspected the recent investigations into alleged insurance fraud that led to his arrest.

According to KATC News in Louisiana,

Long time agents Rhett Jeansonne and Kim Sledge had come to Lavergne’s Insurance Company Tuesday afternoon to gather information on a case for the Louisiana Department of Insurance. Authorities say it seems Melvin Lavergne had been waiting because he was armed with a gun, his secretary was out and he’d sent another business partner home that morning.

Camille Fontenot, the Director of Ville Platte’s Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Department, who knew Lavergne personally, stated “somebody really has to snap, to actually have a gun and have a gun in his office.”

Fontenot watched as SWAT teams and police took over the streets of downtown Ville Platte, leading her to say “I mean Main Street in Ville Platte in Louisiana, I couldn’t hardly think of a safer place since I was a child you know, and yet this is happening here. It’s really sad, it’s scary.”

As it was also reported on by CNN, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Police, trooper Stephen Hammons said, after the two investigators were killed, Lavergne then proceeded to take his own life as well.

Troopers in January arrested the suspect, also referred to as John Melvin Lavergne, on a complaint alleging he conducted unfair trade practices.

The Louisiana Department of Insurance stated that Lavergne was served by their Department of Insurance Fraud section’s investigators with a cease-and-desist order, a summary suspension of his license, a $4,500 fine notice and a notice of proposed license revocation for his alleged misuse of insurance premiums.

The insurance department said that Lavergne failed to remit more than $1,160 in premiums to insurance companies, which resulted in four of his clients having their insurance policies canceled due to non-payment of premiums, it said in a January 2011 press release.

The department had also already charged Lavergne with a $16,500 fine, and accused him of insurance fraud in 2009. There were also complaints against his agency in October of 2010 that noted that Lavergne was not sending the payments from customers to their insurance companies.

The LA State Police had arrested Lavergne on January 31st for insurance fraud.