An Aurora man tied to and later exonerated in a headline-grabbing blaze that gutted a newly built mansion was indicted Tuesday as the alleged leader of an insurance fraud ring.
Mikel Mewbourn, 41, was named with five others in a 24-count indictment outlining a variety of schemes that allegedly netted the group more than $277,000 in insurance proceeds, state Attorney General John Suthers said Tuesday.
Mewbourn is accused of masterminding schemes that included three staged auto accidents, two staged auto thefts, two incidences of fake hail damage and staged property damage at a house under construction.
The case has ties to the people around the suspicious fire in November 2008 that gutted a 15,000-square-foot estate at 5301 S. University Blvd. Mewbourn, who helped build the mansion starting in June 2005, and two others — Denver Haslam and Matt Witt — were charged in Arapahoe County with defrauding banks that had backed multimillion-dollar mortgages on the house. The charges were later dropped against all three men.
During construction of the mansion, Mewbourn was seen driving a 2000 Ferrari 550 Maranello that title papers show once belonged to actor Denzel Washington. Prosecutors say Mewbourn collected nearly $39,000 after he reported the car stolen in September 2007. The indictment says Mewbourn stored the car in a warehouse for two years, then had it disassembled and sold.
Mewbourn is also accused of staging a $40,000 flooding accident at a fraternity house at the Colorado School of Mines.
Charged with Mewbourn are Melissa Gillispie, 34; Walter Smith, 51; James Esquibel, 51; John Smith, 27; and Jesse Sellers, 26.
