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Ohio arsonists pair ‘light up’ in pool of gasoline
It’s not easy being an arsonist. Just ask Musa Shteiwi and his son Essa who had a clear criminal vision for their Steak Thyme Subs eatery: They wanted to torch the West Chester, Ohio, food outlet for insurance money. But they lacked a basic job skill: Nobody knew how to set a decent arson fire, not even their hired arsonist.

After four botched attempts, Musa and Essa never saw a nickel of insurance money. They were dead from a gasoline explosion, and arsonist Joshua Hunter was in jail.

Jordanian-born Musa and Essa had promised Hunter a $60,000-dollar-a-year job if he’d burn down the place. Hunter agreed. The hapless torch tried to set three fires over the next six weeks in the summer of 2006, but never figured how to get a good blaze going.

One time he tossed a harmless Molotov cocktail through a window. Another time Hunter doused four chairs with a flammable liquid and set them on fire. The blaze quickly died and caused only minor damage.

Musa and Essa played dumb as word got out about the repeated fires. “I don’t know who would do this,” Musa told local 9News with a straight face. But they stuck with Hunter despite the screwups, and ordered a fourth blowout just 12 hours after Hunter’s hapless assault on the chairs.

Thee pair decided to make the job so easy that even Hunter couldn’t botch it. They went inside and spread gasoline around themselves. Hunter only had to come in later that night and start the fire.

But tragically, Musa and Essa had less arson talent than even Hunter: The pair took a smoking break–while standing in a pool of gasoline. They lit up their cigarettes, igniting an explosion that burned both men over 80 percent of their bodies and buckled a wall of the restaurant. They died within weeks. Hunter soon pleaded guilty to his part in the plot, and faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced.

Source: Coalition Against Insurance Fraud

“She’s alive,” despite what her insurance company thought
Margaret C. Morris and her insurance company now agree: She’s alive.

Several months ago, her insurance company, Medicare or both, dropped her coverage because they presumed the 95-year-old Bellevue, Neb. resident was dead.

“It’s disgusting and it’s irritating and it’s frustrating, and if you can think of any other words, go ahead and use them,” Morris said. “And I’m not dead. I’m not even close to it.”

Morris’ daughter, Mar-garet Spring, said the problem started when she fired her mother’s hospice nurse. Spring thinks a hospice agency official checked the wrong box or typed in the wrong code when the agency was dismissed,making Medicare, and, later, her insurer, believe Morris was dead.

She would not name the agency.

“I just want her back among the living,” Spring said of her mother’s situation.”It’s not funny.”

Spring estimated that she has spent $1,500 on prescriptions for her mother that should have been paid by insurance.

United American In-surance Co., which handled Morris’ Medicare prescription coverage, checked with the regional Medicare office. It verified that Morris was indeed among the living.

So Morris’ coverage was reactivated, and the company told Spring that she would be reimbursed for the prescription expenses.

“She is officially among the living,” Spring said of her mom.

Conseco founder’s Ind. mansion taken off auction block
A mansion owned by Conseco Inc. founder Stephen Hilbert will not be auctioned at sheriff’s sale.

Conseco Inc. notified the Hamilton County sheriff’s department that it did not want the auction for the sprawling French-style mansion, said Ryan Leitch, an attorney for Conseco.

The mansion was put on the market in July for $20 million, but failed to sell. It had been scheduled to be auctioned Dec. 28. The 23,000-square-foot home, situated on a 40-acre estate, includes a full-size replica of Indiana University’s Assembly Hall basketball court.

Earlier this month, Hilbert and the insurer reached a confidential settlement in a $250 million dispute over company-backed loans and debt. The settlement spared Hilbert and his wife, Tomisue Hilbert, a public airing of their financial affairs by eliminating the need for a court hearing.

Both Conseco and the Hilberts agreed that the terms of the settlement would remain confidential, and no details were released.

The agreement also put to rest a lawsuit pending in Illinois in which Conseco was seeking more than $160 million in debts from Hilbert.

Conseco slid into bankruptcy reorganization in 2003 and the stock became worthless. Hilbert, who founded the company in 1979, was its chairman and chief executive until April 2000.

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