A city councilman in a small northern California community was arrested for allegedly burning down a farmhouse he owned so he and his accomplices could fraudulently collect on the insurance money.
Live Oak Vice Mayor Aaron Pamma, 30, was taken to jail Thursday along with his brother Simren Pamma, 28, who is a Live Oak Unified School District board member.
Also arrested for the alleged scheme was Gurtej Singh, 28, the Butte County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
The fire in question happened in February of 2024, authorities say Singh purchased the property in April 2023 under a Department of Agriculture mortgage scheme.
One month after the purchase, Singh transferred half of the ownership of the land to the two brothers, the Butte County DA’s office said.
The office confirmed to CBS Sacramento that the two are brothers and are friends with Singh.
Cal Fire Investigators said they discovered that Singh had purchased insurance for the property three months before the blaze.
After the fire, he then allegedly filed a false insurance claim on the property, officials said.
The property was sold on after the fire and the three collected an insurance payment which gave them a profit of $200,000, the DA’s office said.
The three are facing charges of arson, Aaron Pamma is facing additional charges of fraud, perjury, supporting a false insurance claim and conspiracy to destroy insured property for fraud.
Simren Pamma is facing a charge of conspiracy to destroy insured property for fraud.
Singh meanwhile faces charges of fraud, wire fraud, destroying an insured property for fraud, presenting a false insurance claim and perjury.
Another man, Javier Molina-Bravo, 37, was charged with felony counts of check fraud last March.
Authorities say Molina-Bravo runs Big Dog Handyman and was hired to renovate the farmhouse.
It is alleged that he purchased thousands of dollars’ worth of goods and materials from multiple businesses using checks on a non-existent bank account.
Hellbound and Down 