Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow announced today the principal of an elementary school in Orange has been indicted on charges of arson and insurance fraud for allegedly arranging to have her own car torched.
Amanda Wright-Stafford, 51, of Hillside, was charged by a grand jury yesterday with second-degree aggravated arson, second-degree insurance fraud and third-degree attempted theft by deception. If convicted, Wright-Stafford could serve 10 years in prison. Her arraignment date has not been set.
The backstory, after the jump.
At around 10 p.m. on October 3, 2006, the defendant’s 2000 Honda Passport was found ablaze in East Orange. Detectives say Wright-Stafford filed a theft report in Newark on October 9. Wright-Stafford claims she parked the vehicle on a Newark Street before meeting up with a church group in Union bound for Jamaica.
A plausible story? Not. Authorities questioned why the defendant didn't leave the car parked at her home in Hillside or at the church parking lot in Union prior to the trip. The vehicle showed no signs of forced entry, no sign of ignition system tampering and no sign of being stripped for parts. The vehicle was valued at approximately $10,000.
The truly interesting thing to me is that the original Star-Ledger this may be taken from mentioned that this woman is the third such educator charged with arson in recent days.
Now, it seems as if these folks should know better, and that they're likely idiots (who have never heard either of the very capable ATF or about its charge to investigate arsons). Which in turn leads me to question their possession of advanced degrees, and of course the quality of the most likely state institutions of higher learning where they got such degrees in the first place.....