Posted by Editor | Posted in Personal Injury News
A Vermont man has denied faking a personal injury claim for slip and fall injuries resulting in a $700,000 personal injury settlement. Francis Fredette of Clarendon, Vermont claimed his back injuries were sustained when he fell down a flight of stairs at an apartment complex in Rutland. However, federal prosecutors believe that Fredette’s injuries were really sustained during a botched burglary attempt of a gas station some 40 miles away, according to the story in the Rutland Herald.
Prosecutors indicted Fredette last year, and he entered innocent pleas earlier this week. According to the indictment, Fredette did not suffer his injuries from falling down an apartment stairway but actually sustained them that same evening during a burglary attempt of a Mobil gas station in Randolph. The indictment says that Fredette seriously injured his back when he fell off the roof of the gas station and then worked with a conspirator to make the injuries appear to have happened at the apartment complex. Specifically, the conspirator laid Fredette at the bottom of the stairway and called emergency services.
In addition to federal mail and wire fraud charges, the indictment seeks forfeiture of a house that Fredette bought with his $700K personal injury settlement with the landlord of the apartment complex. Fredette was released on conditions, and no trial date has been set. If convicted, he could face 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.
