Additional charges have been filed against a Lehighton insurance agent who was accused in September of insurance fraud, 23 counts of forgery and theft.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Task Force has charged Alfonso Joseph Sebia, 63, of 305 Mill Road, with felony charges of insurance fraud, forgery, and two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.Sebia is the owner and president of America Coast to Coast Business Solutions LLC, 105 Carbon St., Weatherly. The business is a professional employee organization that provides businesses with payroll services, payroll taxes and Workers' Compensation Insurance.The Insurance Fraud Task Force is an arm of the Lackawanna County District Attorney's office.The charges include allegations that Sebia defrauded a Jim Thorpe company, Sargent Enterprises, of $127,272 between Sept. 30, 2013, and Dec. 22, 2014."We were extremely disappointed in learning of this," business owner Brian Sargent said in a telephone interview early Tuesday. "This has had a significant impact on our business."In addition to the loss of the premium money, Sargent said, he has learned additional amounts of money are still owed to his company."They have been telling us we will likely not be able to recoup it. We'll have to find a way to absorb these costs, and it will probably take years," Sargent said. "At this time of year especially, it was not something we were counting on."The new charges were filed Dec. 10 with District Judge Terrance V. Gallagher of Scranton. Sebia was arraigned Monday before District Judge Alyce Hailstone Farrell, also of Scranton and released on his own recognizance.According to criminal complaints filed by Detective Joseph E. Sarkis, between July 29, 2014, and Aug. 19, 2014, America Coast to Coast collected $31,083 in workers' compensation premiums from Workforce Resources, but failed to provide coverage. Sebia issued 49 Acord certificates to Workforce Resources, which purported to provide workers' compensation insurance, when no such coverage existed.Between Sept. 30, 2013, and Jan. 8, 2015, America Coast to Coast collected $22,722.68 in workers' compensation premiums from Shady Tree, but failed to provide coverage. It issued one Acord certificate to Shady Tree.Between Sept. 30, 2013, and Dec. 22, 2014, Sebia's company collected $123,972 in workers' compensation premiums, but failed to provide coverage. It also issued 61 Acord certificates to Sargent Enterprises.Sebia told Sarkis he "made a lot of bad decisions," according to the criminal complaint.In September the Fraud Task Force charged Sebia with one count of insurance fraud, 23 counts of forgery and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received for failing to provide Workers' Compensation Insurance to Mac Sign Systems, 232 S. Sherman Ave., Scranton. Sebia billed the company $7,112 for Workers' Compensation Insurance between July 15, 2014, through Dec. 27, 2014, but failed to provide coverage, forging 23 Acord certificates of insurance, according to the Fraud Task Force.He was arraigned before District Judge Gallagher and released on $20,000 unsecured bail.