NORTH ANDOVER — Ten months after the town sued former North Andover School Committee Chairman Alfred Perry for not paying health insurance benefits his company owed, he's accused of defrauding his customers of thousands of dollars.

Perry, 56, of 548 S. Bradford St., was arrested last night at home on a warrant based on complaints from six customers of the Internet Insurance Agency who claim to have been cheated out of their money by Perry, the company's president.

He was being held last night in a prisoner cell at the police station on $20,000 cash bail pending his arraignment this morning in Lawrence District Court.

Perry was charged with six counts of embezzlement by a broker, six counts of larceny over $250, six counts of misdemeanor insurance fraud by an insurance agent or broker, forgery of a check and uttering a false document. All but the insurance fraud charges are felonies.

Detective Gene Salois said Perry's arrest stems from an investigation of complaints about a month ago by Officer Dan Crevier and has since expanded into an investigation that spans at least a year and now involves agents of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts and the state Division of Insurance.

Internet Insurance Agency, located at 522 Chickering Road, was incorporated in December 1995 and lists Perry as the company's president, treasurer, secretary and director. Internet Insurance's Web site claims the firm has more than 5,000 clients providing all lines of insurance, specializing in property and casualty insurance.

Many of Internet's employees are family members, including Perry's two sons.

But Salois said the probe focuses on Perry only and is not expected to result in criminal charges against others.

"They're very much cooperating in the investigation," Salois said of the sons.

The criminal case against Perry developed after customers discovered they weren't covered for workers' compensation and other insurance, the detective said, declining to elaborate.

Salois said the ongoing investigation is not connected to the town's lawsuit filed against Perry last year when he owed almost $5,000 in health insurance payments.

In an interview last year, Perry said he wasn't able to make the payments, "because obviously I haven't had the money to be able to pay it."

"I've had a tough year," he said. "I've had to divest myself of things that I like, trying to make things go," he said.

Perry stepped down in March of last year as School Committee chairman and did not run for re-election. He served six years on the committee.

Perry said his work with the School Committee had diverted considerable time from being able to run his business. He cited problems related to former Superintendent Harry Harutunian, who resigned in April 2006, and financial troubles at the school that led to the discovery of money mismanagement, including a $500,000 deficit in the school lunch program.