A former financial planner at the Indianapolis offices of Northwestern Mutual and One America-American United Life was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to identity theft.

Andrew W. Myers "abused his position as a financial planner to steal personal identifying information from the client files of approximately 3,000 individuals from Northwestern Mutual and AUL," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Myers used some of that personal information in an elaborate scheme to steal thousands of dollars, investigators said.

U.S. District Judge William Lawrence also sentenced Myers, 33, to three years of probation and ordered him to make restitution in the amount of $48,488.

Myers was arrested in August 2011 after an investigation by Carmel and Fishers police and the United States Postal Inspection Service found he had stolen personal information from a number of his clients and used it to create identity profiles. According to investigators, he utilized those profiles to open bank accounts and obtain credit cards and ATM cards that he used to make purchases or receive cash.

He also filed change-of-address notifications for his victims with the post office and had their mail routed to post office boxes or vacant foreclosed homes in the Indianapolis area where he could retrieve the mail.
   
After his initial arrest, Myers was charged in state court and released on bond. While out on bond, he stole additional identifying information of other individuals and used it to create new credit accounts. Investigators said he charged about $30,000 to these accounts, including a trip to Los Angeles, where he attended a party at the Playboy Mansion.