Lewis County couple convicted of insurance fraud
A Lewis County couple have been sentenced to jail for filing a false insurance claim.
Jennifer Mau, 30, and David Eden, 47, were found guilty by a jury on Friday.
Their case began as a moving claim. They rented a U-Haul truck on March 30, 2007 to move their household goods and personal belongings from a Centralia storage facility to their new home. They claimed that the U-Haul truck leaked rainwater, destroying $16,789 worth of her property.
Mau reported the loss to U-Haul and filed a claim. The couple said they threw out the damaged property at a landfill.
The insurer had the U-Haul truck water tested for leaks. No leaks were found. The insurer, Republic Western Insurance, denied Mau's claim and turned the case over to state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler's Special Investigations Unit. The SIU's investigation included checks with local weather stations, which reported little or no precipitation that night.
The court sentenced Mau to 60 days in jail, with the option of electronic home monitoring. Eden was sentenced to 15 days in jail. (Both sentences are stayed pending a possible appeal.)
