Former Melbourne insurance agent Joseph Francis McNeany was sentenced yesterday to one year in jail and two years on a bond after he pleaded guilty to 20 charges of theft. A County Court judge ordered him to serve one year in custody, with two years on a good behaviour bond, as well as pay compensation of $78,254 to the victims of his crimes.

The charges relate to the theft of $78,254 in premiums paid to Integrated Insurance Service – a company Mr McNeany operated in the suburb of Hawthorn – between February 2000 and February 2001. Mr McNeany acted as an agent for Australian Unity in that period. Prior to that he was an agent for MMI (now Allianz Australia).