A Washington state insurance scammer who used golf tournaments to bilk carriers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars now faces five more felony counts.
Kevin Kolenda now faces a total of seven felony charges at his May 9 trial in King County Superior Court, the Washington state Department of Insurance announced in a news release this week.
Kolenda, 58, was extradited from Norwalk, Conn., in June 2015 by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Special Investigations Unit after he was arrested by the Norwalk Police Department and SIU detectives in April 2015. The King County Prosecutor’s Office charged him with selling insurance without a license through his golf tournament marketing website, hole-in-won.com.
Kolenda now faces one count of first-degree theft and six counts of engaging in unauthorized insurance transactions, all felonies.
“I appreciate the King County Prosecutor’s tireless work in helping us bring Mr. Kolenda to justice,” said Kreidler.
This is the second time Kreidler has pursued criminal charges against Kolenda for defrauding Washington tournaments and golfers. In 2012, Kolenda was extradited from Connecticut to Washington to face charges of selling insurance without a license. He pled guilty in 2013 to three felony charges for selling insurance without a license and theft for failure to pay golfers hole-in-one awards ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. In 2014, he was sentenced in King County Superior Court to 86 days with credit for time served and ordered to pay $15,000 restitution.
According to the most recent charging documents, Kolenda resumed selling insurance without a license four days after his sentencing and has engaged in selling insurance in Washington at least six times between February 2014 and March 2015.
Kolenda has a long history of defrauding people through hole-in-one insurance scams. He’s been in business since 1995 and has been investigated or prosecuted in 12 states.
Kolenda ignored a 2004 order from Kreidler to cease and desist from selling insurance without a license and a $125,000 fine levied in 2008 for continuing the practice.
