OXNARD : Man Is Sentenced in Insurance Fraud

An Oxnard man convicted of insurance fraud for faking a burglary in his home to support a drug habit was sentenced Friday to five years of felony probation and 180 days in the County Jail, authorities said.

Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell ordered Burdette Earl Starcher, 32, to pay $8,500 in restitution to State Farm Insurance, which reimbursed him for some of the burglary losses, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Bennett said.

Starcher has been in jail since Sept. 11 when he was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for being under the influence of cocaine, a charge that resulted in his being sentenced to 100 days in the County Jail, Bennett said.

Campbell ordered that the two terms run consecutively, Bennett said.

Starcher cried upon hearing his sentence, Bennett said.

“It was a good sentence for the crime he committed,” Bennett said. “I’m pleased with it.”

Starcher was a petty officer at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme at the time of the fraud offense.

He had initially reported to Oxnard police that thieves had broken into his Norma Street duplex while he and his family were visiting relatives in Ohio. He claimed that $70,000 worth of goods were stolen.

Police subsequently learned that Starcher had been a heavy cocaine user, Bennett said.