Two North Texas men have pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain money from an insurance company by filing a false claim for a house fire that was arson.
Blaise Hancock, 43, of Arlington, and Clint Allen, 50, of Lewisville entered their pleas Friday just days before their federal trial on the charge was scheduled to start.Each faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution.Hancock and Allen are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18.Hancock purchased a home in the 1400 block of Rowan Avenue in Dallas in July 2007, using $50,000 that Allen had given him to purchase the residence.That same month, Hancock obtained insurance from SAFECO Insurance Company in the amount of $811,000 for the home. Three months later, Hancock increased the coverage to $861,000.Allen set fire to the Dallas home on Dec. 2, 2007, according to federal court documents.To establish an alibi, Allen sent his cellphone to his father in Pineville, La., and got someone to check into a motel in Pineville using Allen's name and credit card, records showed.Hancock traveled to San Antonio to establish his alibi and returned to North Texas the day after the fire. On Dec. 3, 2007, Hancock called SAFECO to report the fire.Months after the fire, the two men submitted claims to SAFECO, including receipts indicating that they had lost almost $1.2 million in the blaze, according the documents.To help facilitate the fraud, Allen created a company, Restoration Services, and submitted almost $9,000 in invoices to SAFECO from the company in support of their claim, the court documents showed.Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763
