Two Georgia residents were arrested last week for their involvement in an insurance fraud scheme resulting in an estimated loss of $120 million, the Georgia Office of Insurance announced today.

The Fraud Investigations Division of the Georgia Department of Insurance assisted the California Department of Insurance and the Gwinnett County (Georgia) District Attorney's Office in the arrests.

Wesley Bernard Owens, of Suwanee, Georgia, and Beau Eric Wilson, of Gainesville, Georgia, were arrested June 13 by agents in the Fraud Investigations Division. Owens and Wilson allegedly created fake certificates of insurance claiming large groups of agricultural workers were insured when they were not. The certificates claimed the workers were temporary office staffers. The scheme collapsed when injury claims coming into California were not paid because there was never insurance on the workers to begin with.

Owens is the CEO of Bison Workforce Solutions and Bison Data Systems, both of which are based in Gwinnett County, Georgia. A search warrant was executed in May 2017 at the businesses in coordination with the California Department of Insurance. After processing data and conducting interviews, the California Department of Insurance moved forward with the case.

Owens was charged with 18 counts, including insurance fraud, ID fraud, felony theft, two counts of forgery, operating an unlawful insurance business, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Wilson faces 29 total charges, including felony theft, insurance fraud, ID fraud, forgery, operating an unlawful insurance business, and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Agents also attempted to serve an arrest warrant for Ronda Nicole Taylor of Stone Mountain, Georgia, who faces 21 charges in the scheme. A fourth suspect was arrested in Florida.