Metro-east mastermind of insurance fraud, arson schemes gets federal prison time
A Granite City woman was sentenced to 15 years in a federal prison for her leadership of a two-person arson and insurance fraud operation that spanned nearly a decade and included the destruction of multiple homes and apartments in the metro-east and St. Louis.
Evette “Betty” Osuegbu, 62, was found guilty of 15 felony counts in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois in December. She led an operation that included Rufis Jefferson, 48, who pleaded guilty to a 14-count charge and was sentenced in February.
According to court documents filed in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Jefferson was paid by Osuegbu to burn her St. Louis apartment on Dec. 31, 2022, so that she could collect insurance money. Osuegbu received at least $30,180 from insurance companies through interstate wire transfers, court documents show.
Jefferson would spray Everclear alcohol around surfaces and then, to make it seem like an accident, would leave an old iron plugged in until it sparked the fire. The documents said Jefferson bragged about his skills at starting undetectable fires.
Osuegbu purchased an East St. Louis property at an auction in 2014 and began a romance scheme with an illiterate man whose identity she then stole. Jefferson used the stolen identity to purchase home insurance under boyfriend’s name. Osuegbu then she paid Jefferson burn the house down in November 2014, according to the indictment.
She then sued the insurance company for a larger payout, using the illiterate man’s name as the plaintiff without his knowledge. When the insurance company settled, Osuegbu kept all the money, court records show.
But they didn’t stop there.
A month later, in December 2014, Jefferson burned down another home in Florissant, Missouri. It was Jefferson who started the false romance with the occupant of an apartment. Osuegbu and Jefferson had furniture moved in to increase the insurance payout and instructed the occupant to take out a high renter’s insurance policy, the charges state.
Osuegbu threatened to “gut” the occupant if she didn’t receive payments from the insurance company and the occupant paid Osuegbu in installments over the span of multiple months.
Years later, the pair targeted Spanish Lake Apartments in St. Louis. Osuegbu, who was renting the apartment, went to the Ameristar Casino on Dec. 31, 2022 while Jefferson set fire to the apartment, court documents say.
During Osuegbu’s trial, a next-door neighbor at the apartment complex testified against her.
“Firefighting efforts stopped the spread of the fire but left the witness to live in a smokey and moldy apartment for months,” a press release from the federal court stated.
In 2023, Osuegbu and Jefferson made plans to burn more homes in Granite City and Venice, the court records say. In March 2023, Osuegbu warned Jefferson of cameras near a property they planned to burn in Granite City. She also warned him to turn off his cell phone in case phone records were searched.
Those plans were scrapped after Osuegbu learned no insurance company would give her a policy due to the property having previous fire claims.
According to the release from the federal court, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms intervened before the pair could continue with their schemes.
“I’m an arsonist,” Jefferson told an ATF informant, according to court records. That insurance policy is “a gold mine” and that house “is going down,” he also said.
“Arson and insurance fraud are not victimless crimes, and the sentence imposed reflects the seriousness of the offenses committed. This was a dangerous, deliberate, and brazen scheme orchestrated by Ms. Osuegbu, putting the public at risk for personal gain,” ATF Chicago Special Agent in Charge Christopher Amon said in a press release.
Osuegbu was arrested in November 2023 and charged with:
1 count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud
2 counts of mail fraud
10 counts of wire fraud
1 count of conspiracy to commit arson
1 count of using a fire to commit a federal felony
Jefferson was arrested in November 2023 and charged with:
1 count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud
2 counts of mail fraud
10 counts of wire fraud
1 count of conspiracy to commit arson
