Anti-fraud group releases its "Hall of Shame" for 2011
The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud has compiled its annual "Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame" list. And this batch is pretty horrifying:
- A debt-plagued Arizona homeowner torched his home for $440,000 in insurance money -- and killed a witness and the witness' family. He got 14 years in prison for the insurance fraud, and the death sentence for the murders.
- A Rhode Island radio DJ who wanted to upgrade her home and pool had several friends simulate storm damage to her home -- smashing a hole in her roof with a tree limb, messing up the pool, etc. The problem: The weather was fair and in the 70s that day. And one of the DJ's accomplices was caught on an unrelated federal wiretap bragging about the job.
- Another home-arson case involved a California couple who hired a man to burn down their home. The man used a lot of gasoline, leading to a blast that left him horribly burned. He died later that day. The couple went to prison.
- There are several others, but we'll end with what's probably the strangest case. A mortuary workers and medical worker faked the death of a man who'd never existed. There was even a grave. And a funeral service. Using forged documents, the workers and accomplices had taken out $950,000 in life insurance policies on the fictitious man.
