| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
OAKLAND – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that last Friday, Lawrence Murphy pleaded guilty to mail fraud for inflating his fire insurance claim following an unexplained fire that destroyed his restaurant in Alameda, California, in January 2003.
Mr. Murphy, 54, of Oakland, California, owned and operated Larry & Della’s Waterfront Restaurant in Alameda, California, from July 2000 through January 2003. An unexplained fire destroyed the restaurant on January 8, 2003. In pleading guilty, Mr. Murphy admitted to defrauding his insurance company by filing a false claim with Farmer’s Insurance, inflating his loss by $54,605 and supporting the false claim with a false tax document. Mr. Murphy falsely claimed that the restaurant had more sales than it actually did in order to receive the higher insurance payment. He has agreed to pay $54,605 in restitution to Farmer’s Insurance.
The sentencing of Mr. Murphy is scheduled for June 6, 2008, before United States District Judge D. Lowell Jensen in Oakland, California. The maximum statutory penalty for mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 is twenty years and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Maureen Bessette is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal tech Cynthia Daniel. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 08-00081 DLJ
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.