Two California life insurance agents received probation and must pay thousands of dollars in restitution after filing faulty applications in order to receive commissions.

In one of the cases, Edwin A. Flores, 33, of Long Beach, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor grand theft, receiving two years probation and 120 hours of community service, according to the California Department of Insurance.

Flores must also pay $21,060 in restitution to a life insurance company that was not named by the department.

According to department investigators, between November 2008 and February, Flores intentionally submitted 14 fraudulent life insurance applications with inaccurate bank draft information to an insurer in order to receive advance commission payments of $21,060.

When the life insurance company attempted to collect payments from the bank accounts, it learned from the bank that they were fraudulent, leading to the investigation. Flores gave the insurer a second set of account numbers, which were also fake, and eventually signed a promissory note with the company to repay the money, which the department claims he never did.

Flores admitted to investigators that he filed the fake applications to receive the commissions to help with financial troubles he was experiencing. Action against his insurance license by the department is pending.

In another case, Kerry Urban Hunter, 50, of Inglewood, Calif., who pleaded guilty to felony grand theft, was sentenced to five years probation, according to the department.

Hunter was also ordered to pay $5,100 in restitution to an insurance company – again unnamed by the department – as well as $5,000 restitution to regulators for investigative costs and $460 in fines and penalties.

Investigators said in 2008, Hunter allegedly received $5,177 in advance commissions after submitting 18 bogus insurance applications on behalf of nine people for supplemental medical policies.

The insurer did its own investigation after finding that a high number of applications were cancelled due to premium payments returned for insufficient funds. It was learned that Hunter used his bank checking account on the applications, which also contained incorrect dates of birth, social security numbers and addresses.

The life insurer could not locate the applicants, but California Department of Insurance investigators located one individual, who said he did not know Hunter and had no intentions of purchasing a policy from the agent.

Hunter’s insurance license was revoked, effective Nov. 29.