Intelligence officer hatches dimwitted insurance fraud scheme
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A naval intelligence officer in Tampa, Florida, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree arson and burning a building to defraud an insurer in an unintelligent scheme that involved an obvious whiff of gasoline, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Investigators say his story was full of holes: Navy Lt. Nolen Zander told them the fresh burns on his face and hands just after the blaze were from the radiator in his Volkswagen Jetta, and that he and his wife just happened to be sleeping at a nearby Quality Inn on the night of the fire in 2014, according to the newspaper.
Meanwhile, court records reveal it’s evident that Lt. Zander used gasoline to set fire to the two-bedroom, single-story house to collect insurance money, according to the newspaper.
Specifically, Hillsborough County Fire investigators later determined gasoline was used to set several fires inside; that an “incendiary device” that didn’t detonate was found in a detached apartment on the property that also was doused in gasoline; and that the 43-year-old naval officer had recently purchased a new homeowners policy with an increase in limits, the newspaper reported.
