Insurance-incentivized incineration

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  • Patricia Fairman
    Patricia Fairman
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After hearing evidence that a Port Arthur woman allegedly sought to reap the benefits of a half-million-dollar insurance policy by plotting – and botching – an arson attempt on her home, a Jefferson County grand jury indicted the 65-year-old suspect Aug. 31.

In an alleged effort to blaze her way into a payday, Patricia Fairman set multiple fires to her $109,468, Thomas Boulevard-based home in July, according to a probable cause affidavit penned by Port Arthur Fire Department (PAFD) Peace Officer Antonio Mitchell.

“I have reason to believe that Patricia Fairman set fire to her habitation inside an incorporated city and knowing that the habitation is insured against damage and destruction,” the affidavit reads. “Ms. Fairman had multiple fires at her property. The fires at the above location were not connected and had to be started by an outside, competent heat source introduced by a person.

“The fires at the above location span over the course of two days, with different areas of origin. Ms. Fairman lied to investigators about being in the area of the fires, (telling) investigators that she was in Crowley, Louisiana at the time of the fires. Cell phone records indicate that she was in Port Arthur at the time of the fires.”

Fairman allegedly told investigators that she was with her son in Louisiana when the fires occurred. However, PAFD investigators say they have a signed statement from her son that swears she wasn’t with him. Investigators say Fairman told multiple people that she wanted to have her house burned down “for the insurance money.”

Investigators say Fairman even tried to hire a man to spark her incendiary idea into motion, adding, “We had multiple anonymous phone calls where people stated Ms. Fairman wanted her house burned down, or where Ms. Fairman tried to solicit them to burn her house down.”

As of press time, Fairman’s name did not appear on the Jefferson County inmate roster.