Husband and Wife Convicted of Wire Fraud

Local Couple’s Insurance Scam Falls Apart

A jury in Anchorage has found Arnold Wesley Flowers, II, and his wife, Miranda May Flowers, guilty of 12 counts of wire fraud as part of their scheme to defraud State Farm Insurance.

The evidence presented in court established that on January 17, 2016, the Flowers moved several items from their home into a storage unit located at Best Storage on Tudor Road in Anchorage. These items included several big screen television sets, jewelry, clothing, shoes, designer handbags and sunglasses, video games, computers, and other electronics.

The next day, January 18-19, the Flowers staged a burglary at their home on Larkspur Circle and claimed in their report to the Anchorage Police that the items they previously put in storage had been stolen in a burglary of their home. The Flowers held a renter’s insurance policy with State Farm Insurance.

On January 25, the Flowers contacted State Farm Insurance and made a formal claim for reimbursement of the replacement cost of the items they had hidden in the storage unit on January 17, and that they claimed had been stolen on January 18-19. The Flowers valued the falsely stolen or intentionally damaged property at over $82,000.

The Flowers communicated this claim for loss to State Farm Insurance through multiple telephone calls and emails that originated in Alaska and were sent to claim investigators located at State Farm Insurance offices in the Lower 48 states and Hawaii.

Arnold Flowers, 41, and Miranda Flowers, 31, both of Anchorage, were tried before U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason. Both Mr. and Mrs. Flowers were convicted of all 12 charged counts of wire fraud.

U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler commends the Anchorage Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, and the State of Alaska Division of Insurance for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution and conviction of Mr. and Mrs. Flowers.