LAKEPORT — The felony theft trial against local insurance agent Glenn A. Neasham entered its second week Wednesday with a prosecution annuity expert testifying for nearly three hours.
Judge Richard C. Martin presided. Deputy district attorney Rachel Abelson represented the Lake County District Attorney”s Office and attorney Mitchell Hauptman represented Neasham.
Neasham, who operates Neasham Financial, Insurance and Retirement Planning in Lakeport, faces one felony count of theft from an elder exceeding $950. The prosecution alleges Neasham acted illegally when he sold a $175,000 annuity to Lucerne resident Fran Schuber, then 83, in February 2008.
The trial opened Sept. 21 with jury selection and attorneys gave opening statements Friday, according to Abelson. Among the evidence presented Friday was a video of a DA”s Office investigator interviewing Schuber in July, Abelson said.
Neil Granger, a consultant and licensed insurance agent, testified Wednesday morning as a prosecution expert on annuities and other types of life insurance. He spent a significant portion of his time on the stand analyzing the Allianz MasterDex 10 annuity Neasham sold to Schuber more than three years ago.
“I think it”s a bad product,” Granger said of the MasterDex 10. He also added that “it”s not an appropriate product” for an 83-year-old, citing provisions such as surrender charges for some early withdrawals.
The full potential of the annuity would not be realized for 15 years after purchase, Granger said. “When someone”s older, you”re looking at safety and liquidity,” he said.
Granger called the MasterDex 10 a “high-commission product” for agents, who he estimated could earn about an 8-percent commission for selling the annuity.
He also said the type of annuity Schuber bought was notably complex. “I don”t think anyone who understood this product would buy it,” Granger said.
Under cross-examination, Granger said there are no regulations prohibiting agents from selling the MasterDex 10 to 83-year-olds. He also said all disclosures and descriptions of the annuity were in the statement of understanding signed by Schuber.
The prosecution called its second and final witness of the day at 2:30 p.m.
Kristin Schriber, a senior investigator for the California Department of Insurance, began testifying about conversations she had with Schuber and Neasham during her investigation.
Schriber described an interview she had with Schuber in December 2008.
Schuber seemed “confused” and “anxious” when answering questions about the annuity, often turning to her boyfriend for reassurance, and showed signs of “dementia-like symptoms” during the meeting, Schriber said.
Schriber also testified that Neasham told her over the phone that he sold Schuber a suitable product. Schriber had not completed her testimony when the trial adjourned for the day around 4 p.m.
The jury will not report back to the Lake County Courthouse until Friday morning because the attorneys will spend today narrowing down the thousands of pages of documents the jury would be asked to review during deliberations.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
