Philip Kramer, Fulda, made a first appearance on Monday in Murray County District Court on ten felony counts of aiding and abetting arson, racketeering, coercion, aiding and abetting insurance fraud, theft by swindle and conspiracy to commit theft by swindle.
Kramer was charged in 2018 for filing false income tax returns. Early this year he was charged with theft by swindle and fraud.
Ernest William Johnson, Fulda, has been charged with multiple felonies including aiding and abetting arson, racketeering, insurance fraud, theft by swindle, conspiracy to committ theft by swindle and conspiracy to commit arson
According to the Statement of Probable Cause filed in Fifth District Court, the charges against Kramer are from a complicated plan to pay off incurred debt by burning a conspirator’s house for insurance money. The investigation into the fire led to the 2018 felony charges against Kramer for income tax evasion and fraud.
A home owned by Johnson burned on March 5, 2017. Because the fire was deemed suspicious, a fire marshal was called in, and he determined that an accelerant had been used in the fire. A Murray County Investigator was asigned to assist the fire marshal in the arson investigation. It was learned that Kramer, who was serving as a Fulda District School Board member, had threatened Johnson’s wife’s job as a paraprofessional if Johnson did not cooperate in helping to pay off a debt Kramer owned to Rabo AgriFinance.
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