SWAT team members called to the scene of a shooting in Louisiana found the body yesterday of insurance agent John Melvin Lavergne inside an insurance agency in Ville Platte, allegedly having taken his own life after killing two investigators with the Louisiana insurance fraud division.
The two investigators were shot and killed Tuesday while trying to collect information from Lavergne, who barricaded himself in his business where the shooting happened, authorities confirmed.
State Insurance Department Commissioner Jim Donelon identified the agents as Rhett Jeansonne and Kim Sledge. Ville Platte is a city of 8,000 located approximately 70 miles west of Baton Rouge.
According to a statement from the Louisiana insurance department, Lavergne was issued a casualty, property and vehicle physical damage license in April 1977 which was valid through April 2011. His life, accident and health license, which was obtained in 1973, was valid only until April 2010.
Public records show that in November 2009 Lavergne, then 64, was issued a cease and desist order, six-month license suspension from the Department of Insurance, which also issued him a $16,500 fine for allegedly providing fraudulent proofs of insurance to the Lafayette Department of Motor Vehicles on several occasions.
Further details were not available as of this posting, but authorities confirmed the investigation is ongoing.
