Man Sentenced to Prison for Staged Arson and Insurance Fraud

U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced that a 30-year-old Minnesota resident has been handed a 30-month prison sentence, followed by one year of supervised release, for filing fraudulent insurance claims related to a staged arson incident.

According to court documents, on September 23, 2020, Denis Vladmirovich Molla falsely reported to the Brooklyn Center Police Department that his camper had been intentionally set on fire.

He claimed that he witnessed three unidentified individuals near his residence at the time of the incident, accompanied by an explosion. Furthermore, Molla alleged that his garage door had been defaced with spray-painted graffiti, and he asserted that the motive behind the attack was the presence of a Trump 2020 flag on his camper.

Investigations revealed a different story. It was uncovered that Molla himself had started the fire and spray-painted the graffiti on his own property. Molla submitted multiple insurance claims for the damages caused by the alleged arson, including the garage, camper, vehicles, and residence.

To further exploit the situation, Molla not only created two GoFundMe accounts but also encouraged others to do the same, all with the aim of soliciting funds for himself and his family. In total, Molla submitted over $300,000 in fraudulent insurance claims, receiving approximately $61,000 from his insurance provider. Additionally, he managed to collect more than $17,000 from individual donors through the GoFundMe campaigns.

This case was brought to light through a joint investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Brooklyn Center Police Department.