Georgia’s former insurance commissioner, Jim Beck, turned himself in to begin his federal prison sentence Thursday, his attorney said.
Beck, 60, was sentenced in October to seven years and three months of confinement followed by three years of supervised release for stealing from a former employer. U.S. District Court Judge Mark H. Cohen, who ordered Beck to pay $2.6 million in restitution, allowed Beck to start his sentence this week so he could have Thanksgiving at home.
Beck, who’s been monitored with an electronic device in recent weeks, was ordered to surrender at noon Thursday to the federal prison camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Randy Chartash, one of Beck’s trial lawyers, said Beck is starting his sentence while appealing.
“We have some good issues on appeal,” said Chartash, “and we expect to vigorously appeal his conviction and sentence.”
Beck’s conviction clears the way for John King, who’s been filling in since Beck’s indictment, to shed his interim title. Had Beck been acquitted, the law would’ve cleared him to reclaim his post as state insurance commissioner. King, a former Doraville police chief and general in the Georgia National Guard, will be officially sworn in by Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday.
