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Woman who connived elaborate insurance scheme will still go to jail, but gets to keep her house
ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: July 22, 2014
In a recently released opinion, the 2nd District Court of Appeals partially affirmed the judgment of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in an insurance fraud case.
The defendant, Eva Christian, was found guilty by a jury in the lower court of two counts of insurance fraud, two counts of making false alarm and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The 2nd District’s three-judge appellate panel ruled that there was insufficient evidence to uphold the corrupt activity charge and reversed Christian’s conviction on that count.
It also reversed the lower court’s order that Christian forfeit her home and pay restitution to a police and fire department.
Some other counts were modified but only to reflect the passage of H.B. 36, which went into effect after Christian was indicted but before she was sentenced and made changes to the manner in which the degrees of certain criminal fraud offenses are determined.
Case summary states that Christian set a plan in motion for committing insurance fraud in 2009.
She sent a letter to a Jack Presley seeking his assistance but Presley was in jail.
It never became clear how Christian knew him.
Presley’s stepfather, Darryl Adams, opened Christian’s letter and contacted her himself and they set up a meeting with Christian, Adams and Adam’s wife, Diane Jones, where they discussed staging a burglary at Christian’s house.
The plan was for Christian to hire Adams for a painting project at her home, laying out a legitimate basis for their relationship.
Christian would then box up the items she wanted “stolen” and leave them in the garage, which she would leave unlocked.
She offered to pay Adams and Jones $1,000 for the job, with $500 to be paid upfront and the rest when she received the insurance check.
On Oct. 9, 2009, Adams and Jones executed the plan.
Adams used a “tire tool” on the garage door to make it appear as if someone had broken in and then took the things that Christian had packed.
On Oct. 11, 2009, Christian reported a burglary at her home.
According to her, televisions, computers, designer handbags, video game systems and several types of currency were among the pilfered items.
She filed an insurance claim with Cincinnati Insurance Company which eventually issued her two checks: one for $15,420 to replace broken doors, and the other for $36,300 to replace the stolen items.
About one month after she reported the burglary, Christian retrieved the “stolen” items from Adams and Jones.
After the burglary, Christian began planning another staged crime at Cena, a restaurant she owned at the Dayton Mall.
First, she staged a shooting at her house in order to make it appear as if someone was out to get her.
On Dec. 4, 2009, Christian called the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department to report that someone had shot at her in the driveway of her home.
Two deputies responded but did not find any shell casings, evidence of damage to the home or any other evidence of a shooting.
That night, Christian contacted Adams to discuss the evidence issue.
The next day, Dec. 5, Christian called the sheriff’s department again, saying she found bullet holes in her garage and spent casings nearby, where the deputies had looked the previous night.
Two days later, Christian reported a threatening phone call from a restricted number that alluded to the shooting and making her “pay.”
The call was placed from a TracFone and could not be traced. Calls placed to the number by police went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Christian was busy hatching a plan with Adams and Jones to “blow up” her restaurant. She offered to pay them $5,000 for the job.
Christian turned off the restaurant’s security cameras and gave Adams a key and advice on avoiding detection by the mall’s surveillance.
She also fired an employee, Christopher Hale, and planned to frame him for the crime.
On the night of Dec. 24, 2009, Det. Brad Daugherty, who was investigating the robbery and shooting at Christian’s home, stopped by her house.
Christian was not home so her son, Julian, let the Daugherty inside.
According to his trial testimony, the detective “made a mental note” of several items inside the home that were identical to those that had been reported stolen.
That same night, Adams went to Cena. Rather than starting a fire, he unplugged freezers, cut up furniture and dumped bottles of liquor.
Christian later complained to him that he had not done enough damage and she wanted the restaurant “blown up.”
On Dec. 26, Miami Township police responded to a reported burglary and vandalism at Cena.
Officers observed no signs of forced entry and Christian mentioned Hale as a possible suspect.
When officers left the scene to go obtain the mall’s surveillance footage, a fire was started in Cena’s back office.
Fire investigators found a box with burnt receipts, a phone book and curtains.
The sprinklers had activated and done a significant amount of additional damage to the restaurant.
Christian explained that she may have accidentally left a cigarette burning in the office and the fire was eventually categorized as an accident.
As the investigation continued, detectives noticed additional damage to Cena that had not been there before every time they returned, including broken knobs on a stove, damage in the bathrooms and a gas burner that had been turned on without a flame.
Erie Insurance launched its own investigation into the incident and also noticed that the damage to the restaurant was becoming more extensive from one visit to the next.
By Jan. 5, damage was noted in almost every room and ultimately, Erie denied Christian’s claim.
Christian’s plan finally unraveled when a confidential informant contacted Miami Township police and reported that she had staged the vandalism at Cena.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for Christian’s home and seized the items that had previously been reported stolen.
Forensic investigation confirmed Christian had possessed the items prior to the burglary.
Following the jury’s guilty verdict, Christian was ordered to serve an aggregate term of nine years in prison.
She was also ordered to pay restitution to Cincinnati Insurance, Erie Insurance, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department and the Miami Township Fire Department.
The trial court imposed court costs and ordered Christian to forfeit her house due to its use in her offense of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Upon appeal to the 2nd District, Christian raised 11 assignments of error, one of them challenging her conviction for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and the forfeiture of her home in relation to that charge.
According to the Ohio RICO Act, “No person employed by or associated with any enterprise shall conduct or participate in, directly or indirectly, the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of corrupt activity or the collection of an unlawful debt.”
Christian contended that there was no evidence of an “enterprise” and the court of appeals agreed with her.
“In this case, there is no evidence that the ‘structure’ of the activities in which Christian engaged with Adams and, to a lesser extent, Jones, went beyond the crimes of staged burglary and vandalism,” wrote Presiding Judge Jeffrey Froelich for the court of appeals. “Christian’s relationship with Adams and Jones served no other purpose than to aid her in staging crimes on which she would later base false insurance claims.”
“Their ‘organization’ had a purpose, but it did not function as a continuing unit and its structure was not separate or distinct from the corrupt activity in which they engaged.”
The appellate panel concluded there was insufficient evidence to convict Christian of a RICO violation and it overruled that portion of the trial court’s judgment.
It went on to overrule the lower court’s order that Christian forfeit her home because she was never notified in her indictment that the state was seeking forfeiture.
Additionally, her vacated RICO conviction waived the requirement that she give up her house.
Christian also contended that the trial court erred when it ordered restitution to the insurance companies and law enforcement agencies.
The appellate panel overruled her claims as they related to the insurance companies, finding that, though Erie Insurance denied Christian’s claim, it still spent a significant sum investigating the incident at Cena.
Christian then argued that governmental agencies are not “victims entitled to restitution when they expend public funds in the pursuit of fighting crime.”
“Ohio courts have addressed the question whether a governmental agency that responds to a false alarm or otherwise expends its funds in the investigation of a crime is a ‘victim’ of the offense,” wrote Judge Froelich.
Generally, with the exception of embezzlement or destruction of government property, courts have held that law enforcement agencies are not entitled to restitution.
“We appreciate the state’s argument and the trial court’s conclusion that a governmental agency that expends funds or other resources in responding to a false alarm should be reimbursed somehow,” wrote Judge Froelich. “However, the legislature has not provided for restitution in such circumstances, and we are bound to apply the restitution statute as it is written.”
Ultimately, the case was remanded to the trial court for it to amend Christian’s convictions and sentence in a manner consistent with the appellate panel’s opinion.
Judge Mary Donovan joined Judge Froelich to form the majority.
Judge Michael Hall dissented in part, holding that there was sufficient evidence to convict Christian of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The case is cited State v. Christian, 2014-Ohio-2672.
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