Eureka insurance broker John Ford is being investigated by the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office for alleged embezzlement of a Benbow medical marijuana company’s insurance policy payments.
“Your affiant fears that the industry of marijuana production is particularly vulnerable to this type of embezzlement because business owners are less likely to report their own victimization, as doing so may generate further scrutiny to their own businesses,” District Attorney’s Office investigator Martin Morris wrote in a Dec. 1, 2016, statement of probable cause to obtain a search warrant for Ford’s business.
District Attorney Maggie Fleming said Thursday that charges have not been filed against Ford and therefore she cannot comment on a case that is pending investigation. A management hearing at the Humboldt County Superior Court for this case is scheduled to take place Feb. 21.
The nonprofit Humboldt Redwood Healing corporation filed the claim against Ford in October alleging that Ford had accepted more than $52,100 in payments from the company between February and September 2016 to set up a workers compensation insurance policy for three trimmers, according to court documents.
