Arnold Wesley Flowers II, Wire Fraud, AK 2024

Arnold Wesley Flowers, II, 41, and Miranda May Flowers, 31, both of Anchorage, Alaska, were convicted on all 12 counts of wire fraud after staging a fake burglary to defraud State Farm Insurance of more than $82,000. The verdict, handed down by a federal jury in Anchorage, marks the collapse of a calculated scheme that began with the couple secretly moving their own belongings into a storage unit before reporting them stolen from their home.

On the night of January 17, 2016, the Flowers transferred high-value items—including big screen TVs, jewelry, designer handbags, electronics, and clothing—to a unit at Best Storage on Tudor Road. Two days later, they staged a break-in at their residence on Larkspur Circle, filing a police report claiming the items had been stolen during a burglary. They then filed a renter’s insurance claim with State Farm, falsely asserting the loss of property they had willingly hidden.

The couple submitted their claim for reimbursement on January 25, 2016, using multiple phone calls and emails sent from Alaska to State Farm investigators located across the Lower 48 and Hawaii. These electronic transmissions formed the basis of the wire fraud charges, each count representing a separate communication used to advance the deception. The total value of the falsely reported stolen goods exceeded $82,000.

Arnold Flowers’ criminal record deepened the case’s notoriety—he was convicted just months later on October 19, 2016, by another jury on separate federal charges of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and being a felon in possession of firearms. That conviction, also in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, underscored a broader pattern of illegal conduct.

The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly Cavanaugh and James Barkeley, who built a case supported by physical evidence, digital records, and investigative work from multiple agencies. The State of Alaska Division of Insurance assigned a dedicated investigator throughout the probe and trial, highlighting interagency cooperation in tackling financial crimes that impact consumer premiums and insurer integrity.

U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler praised the collaborative effort behind the convictions, specifically citing the Anchorage Police Department, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, and the Alaska Division of Insurance. “This case sends a clear message,” Loeffler stated. “Fraud won’t be overlooked, and those who exploit the system will face federal consequences.”

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