Devoted to the Insurance industry and all thing related

It's a shame I didn't find this earlier, maybe it might have made a difference. I find it shameful that you would assume that information from a single source would be the only information available about a topic. I am one of the "stupidest crooks in history" mentioned in your 9/23/2006 blog, and I find that an ironic statement. Please allow me to elaborate on Mr. James' comments, as I believe he left a few pieces of information out. Not that I believe you will allow anyone to actually see this, when it is much easier to judge others from a pedestal, but what the heck, right? Maybe I'm wrong to judge you, as you were about me.
My husband and I were in the unfortunate position of having purchased a vehicle with catastrophic mechanical problems. Obviously when we purchased the vehicle, we were unaware of this, and in good faith we paid cash and took our new van home. In less than 6 months, the engine, rear end, rear axle, fuel injection system, and alternator all failed. As a result, we were repeatedly bled of what small amount of money we had in order to maintain this monstrosity, all along continuing to pay insurance premiums that fail to protect consumers from just such a situation. We were poor and living in a home owned by my sister, who threatened us with eviction if we did not give her several thousand dollars she claimed we owed her. I had only recently graduated college, and was working sporadically as a substitute teacher, and my former husband was unemployed. We have two children, and at the time were in a full-out panic about our situation. We could not afford a new vehicle to replace the piece of garbage we had bought, and living in a rural area, there is no public transportation. Unfortunately, we decided to do the wrong thing, and I assure you it was not out of stupidity, but fear and desperation, that we made the regretable decision to claim an insurance claim so we could pay my sister and buy a cheap vehicle in order to continue to work when possible.
Nearly two years passed before my sister decided to use the tape as blackmail against me again to make me move from the residence she owned. I complied with the move, but unknown to me, she gave the tape to her husband, NOT ex-husband (in fact, they are still married today, so much for the divorce agreement), to hold in case she needed it. He viewed it and decided it would be a good reason for judge to award him custody of their two children, whenever a divorce agreement was reached (as I mentioned, no such agreement exists, and never has). As a result, all four of us that were involved were questioned, and ALL of us confessed our involvement and I ALONE made restitution to the insurance company, for almost $1000 MORE than they actually paid out. This was all done more than four months before Mr. James requested warrants, with no initiation from the insurance company. Let me repeat, the insurance company did not press charges as they were compensated and then some. The state's attorney simply had a winable case, and decided to pursue it anyway. I have since done some research and found that the US Legal System does not recommend this action unless an excessive amount of police resources were used to solve the crime. I will leave it to you to determine how much effort you believe they invested in this situation.
I agreed to a plea bargain in July of 2006 so that I might salvage my career as a teacher rather than risking a conviction for a felony. It was not until after I was unable to withdraw my guilty plea that the vieotape in question was released to the media and my reputation was utterly destroyed. I have not been able to procure work since that tape was released, mainly due to the unusually large release for such a small matter, and I have had to endure assumptions and judgments from people like you ever since. I am not a bad person, and I am far from stupid, but like many people today, I was in a desperate situation, and I made a poor choice as to how to fix it. I have taken my punishment and then some, and I would appreciate it if you would at the very least get the story right, if you're going to spread it around like this. For the record, you are dealing with information given by a man who never interviewed a single one of us before making his statements, and the plea agreement was that the tape was to be used as an educational and training tool for the police and insurance companies. The only education given, according to the great Mr. James himself, is that you can commit the crime, just don't tape it. You tell me, is that really education, or just a way to justify ruining someone for making a mistake? Why don't you ask him why he isn't on the news for conviction some of the thieves and drug dealers who run freely through his county? Would it be that perhaps without a videotape, Mr. James and his cohorts are actually pretty pitiful at their jobs? I will leave it to your readers to determine who is really "stupid" or for that matter, who the real "crooks" are.

First off I'm not a lawyer and know very little about the interworkings of the "justice" system. With that being said here is my understanding of this issue.

You took part in committing insurance fraud, later you paid the insurer back $1,000 more than what you received from them and they consequently decided not to press criminal charges. Then the State's Attorney got a hold of the tape and decided to press charges even though the insurers didn't decided against it. You proceeded to enter into a plea bargain, which according to dictionary.com means "To make an agreement in which a defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge and the prosecutor in return drops more serious charges." According to you this plea bargain "was that the tape was to be used as an educational and training tool for the police and insurance companies." Correct me if I'm wrong but those are the basic facts of the whole scenario?

You admit to committing the crime, regardless of the surrounding circumstances, you taped it and then lost the tape. What exactly would you expect most people's reaction to be? I leave that open to our readers interpretation and encourage anyone to leave comments.

I understand your confusion, and for the most part, I see nothing you missed since my statement, but the part you failed to note was the tactics used by the state's attorney's office to destroy individuals for personal gain, rather than to actually solve any problems. I agree that many would have an issue with us for the decision we made, which is why I made no effort to try to have the charges dropped, despite the fact that the event was the result of blackmail. I knew I had done wrong, but to have my entire life destroyed over something that I had already made restitution for is not only a dirty thing to do to someone who tried to correct a mistake, but also, in my opinion, bordering on cruel and unusual punishment, which is a violation of my 8th ammendment rights. Also consider the fact that the state's attorney violated this agreement by releasing the tape, and he is not being held accountable by anyone, and I am unable to obtain legal representation due to the fact that no one wants to jeopardize their relationship with his office on future cases. In addition, I find it interesting that insurance companies use people like me to justify raising rates, when they actually made money from this transaction. I doubt very highly that they include that type of information in their warnings. Obviously, the media can't be trusted to even find out the details of their stories before printing or airing them, so keep that in mind. If they would give misinformation about this case, imagine the ommissions that you don't know about concerning more significant matters. In addition, I did not lose the tape, it was taken to be used as blackmail again in the future. This was a seriously foolish act, and I am not suggesting that anyone try it themselves, it was definitely not worth it, but also try to remember that there are many others out there, including those who run the companies you are attempting to protect, that committ much worst atrocities against us, and that get away with it everyday. Please, in the future, before you make the mistake of believing everything you read, do yourself and your readers a favor and make sure you know what the truth actually is. I would like to mention that in my life, as a honorably discharged veteran, a teacher, and a single mother, this is the only thing I have ever done wrong. Can you seriously suggest to me that it is the worst thing you have ever heard of, or even know of in your personal life? I encourage you to remember that you are a lover of the written word. Perhaps you should take a moment to read some of the material available to you about the world we live in, and you will be reminded just how corrupt our system is, and then maybe you will see how easy it is to make a bad decision when dealing with it. Finally, I ask you to consider this: poverty is a difficult disease to cure, and even an educated individual can no longer gain employment because of this. Is that what you call fair?