A Suffolk man was sentenced in Portsmouth Circuit Court on Tuesday to two years on charges of obtaining money by false pretense.

Joseph Edward Barnes, 74, was an insurance agent with Columbian Mutual Life Insurance Company, according to a press release from Virginia State Police.

From July 2005 to May 2014, Barnes made monthly visits to a Portsmouth woman to collect $30.95 on a life insurance policy she had purchased.

It was an industrial policy, once common, which involved agents selling door to door and collecting weekly or monthly premiums directly from the policy holder.

However, Barnes pocketed the money rather than forwarding it to the company he represented, according to the state police.

When the victim contacted Columbian Mutual with a question about her policy in 2014, she was advised there was no policy under her name. That resulted in an investigation by the State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance and the Virginia State Police Insurance Fraud program.

The investigation revealed that although Barnes’ employment ended in 2009, he continued to collect payments from the victim.

The insurance company returned the premium payments to the victim, and Barnes surrendered his insurance license and began paying restitution to the insurance company, according to the release.

Police remind consumers that they should periodically verify their coverage directly with their insurance provider, especially when making cash payments directly to an agent.

State Police Public Relations Director Corinne Geller said Barnes received a two-year suspended sentence and will remain on supervised probation during those two years.