DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI] — A former insurance agent and annuity salesman from Clive will spend 19 years behind bars for stealing millions from older Iowans. KCCI reports 48-yer-old Zachary Flaherty was charged with 17 counts of mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and two counts of money laundering over $10,000. He was charged in April 2023.

In late November, he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of wire fraud. On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced Flaherty to 222 months for wire fraud and an additional six months for contempt, for a total of 228 months, or 19 years. Flaherty was also ordered to pay $2.4 in victim restitution.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Flaherty used his position as an insurance agent and annuity salesman to defraud about a dozen older clients in Iowa and Nebraska out of their retirement savings and other monies. Officials say the victims lost more than $900,000. Prosecutors say the victims also wrote more than $1 million worth of checks that Flaherty deposited to himself, and Flaherty defrauded insurance companies over $650,000.