Insurance-Scam-Turned-Murder Perpetrators Sentenced

Two New Orleans men and one Detroit man received extensive prison sentences this week. They were sentenced due to their roles in an insurance scheme that led to a murder back in 2004.

According to Nola.com, the New Orleans man, David Samuels, is the supposed ringleader for the operation, which consisted of a forged life insurance policy on his cousin, Treyor August, who was killed by Samuels’ partners in crime. There was also a van used in the murder –for which Samuels had an auto insurance policy taken out on beforehand, and then burned down weeks later.

As noted in a news release from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office, Samuels was sentenced to 75 years in prison on May 25^th by U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon.

Samuels was convicted of not only mail and wire fraud related to the fraudulent life insurance policy, but also using fire to obstruct justice and other charges.

The other New Orleans man, Jermaine Surtain, was accused of shooting Treyor August. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his conviction of obstructing justice by burning the van.

Prosecutors insisted that Surtain wanted revenge on August because he had stolen from him. Surtain was also the former boyfriend of David Samuels’ sister, Maria Samuels. She plead guilty in the case before trial and testified that she knew of the murder-for-hire plot.

The third man, Charles Moss of Detroit, was convicted of one count of using fire to obstruct justice. He was also convicted on an unrelated arson fraud from 2002 that he committed with Samuels at a home in Harvey. Moss received a 35-year sentence.

The case against the trio grew out of a separate, high-profile case in the New Orleans area: the theft of 177 guns from Puglia’s Sporting Goods in Metairie. Kelvin Marshall, who pleaded guilty in that case, told agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about his friend Surtain’s alleged involvement in the 2004 murder.