A former insurance agent from Bel Air, Md., will spend six months in jail and must repay $356,820 for submitting false information to a health insurer and keeping some of the premiums paid by his clients.

Cullen D. Hofmann, 42, was sentenced on a single count of felony insurance fraud May 1, according to Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.

Hofmann pleaded guilty to felony insurance fraud in a Baltimore County Circuit Court in February.

An investigation found that from January 2005 to May 2007, Hofmann submitted false information to Owings Mills, Md.-based CareFirst, reducing the costs of health insurance premiums for his clients. Hofmann then collected the correct amounts from his clients, remitted the reduced premiums to CareFirst and kept the difference, according to Gansler’s office.

CareFirst discovered the fraud when its investigators noticed several insured businesses using the same mailing address and determined the address belonged to Hofmann.

Circuit Court Judge John Turnbull sentenced Hofmann to six months incarceration, five years probation upon release and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $356,820.

If he violates probation, Hofmann could receive up to seven and a half years in jail and an added fine of $50,000.