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Leader of arson scheme to collect insurance money sentenced to 40 years

Posted at 4:47 PM, Jan 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-02 16:49:56-05

RICHMOND, Va. — A Florida man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for running a long-running arson scheme to illegally collect insurance money.

Verdon Taylor, 72, was convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, use of fire to commit a federal felony, and witness tampering in connection with the fraud.

The insurance fraud conspiracy took place in Richmond, Henrico, Charles City, and Chesterfield counties, to even parts of Florida.

The other co-conspirators in the case includes Taylor’s son, Vershawn Jackson, Marie Taylor, both of Richmond, Eugenia Fleming, Sylvia Mitchell and her son Dorel Watson.

Jackson was sentenced to 57 months in prison in December for his role in the scheme.

According to court documents, Taylor and his co-conspirators purchased cars or mobile homes at auction, or signed leases at rental properties, insured the property, and set fire to the insured property to collect insurance proceeds.

The documents reveal that the group purposely setting 27 fires over the span of 17 years.

Court documents show that in many instances, the time between the purchase of insurance and the fire was mere weeks or even days apart.

Over the course of the scheme, defrauded insurance companies paid out over $1,000,000 on claims by the conspirators.

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