DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Eastern District of Texas

For Immediate Release

Thursday, December 7, 2017
John M. Bales
, United States Attorney
Contact: Davilyn Walston

Texas Pilot Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Arson Conspiracies

TYLER, Texas – Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston announced that a Texas pilot has pleaded guilty today to federal wire fraud and arson charges.

Theodore Robert Wright, III, 32, formerly of Kemah, Texas, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell to conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit arson. At sentencing, Wright faces up to 20 years in federal prison on the wire fraud conspiracy count and 5 to 20 years in federal prison on the arson conspiracy count.

According to information presented in court, Wright led a multi-jurisdictional fraud and arson scheme that spanned from Hawaii to the Gulf of Mexico and involved the destruction of various assets, including vehicles, aircraft, and vessels. Wright and his co-conspirators, Shane Gordon, 45, of Houston, Texas, Raymond Fosdick, 41, of Houston, Texas, and Edward Delima, 41, of Honolulu, Hawaii, acquired assets and obtained insurance coverage in amounts exceeding their purchase prices. Wright and his co-conspirators then devised and carried out schemes to destroy the assets and defraud insurance companies.

The assets destroyed in the scheme included a 1966 Beechcraft Baron, a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo, a 1971 Cessna 500, and a 1998 Hunter Passage. The Beechcraft Baron made an emergency landing in the Gulf of Mexico, sank in deep water, and was not recovered. The Lamborghini Gallardo crashed into a ditch full of water, causing the vehicle to flood. The Cessna 500 was completely destroyed when Fosdick set it on fire at Wright’s direction at an airport in Athens, Texas. The Hunter Passage sank in a marina in Hawaii. Fraudulent insurance claims were filed in relation to each of these incidents. Wright and his co-defendants also filed a fraudulent $1 million personal injury lawsuit related to the crash in the Gulf of Mexico. The suit was settled for $100,000.

On May 17, 2017, Wright, Gordon, Fosdick, and Delima were charged with various offenses related to their conduct in the scheme in the Eastern District of Texas. Wright’s co-conspirators have all pleaded guilty. On September 26, 2017, Delima pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud. On October 12, 2017, Fosdick pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to commit arson. On October 25, 2017, Gordon pleaded guilty to making false statements to a federal agent.

At sentencing, Delima faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Fosdick faces up to 20 years in federal prison on the wire fraud conspiracy count and 5 to 20 years in federal prison on the arson conspiracy count. Gordon faces up to 5 years in federal prison. Sentencing dates have not been determined.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nathaniel C. Kummerfeld and L. Frank Coan, Jr.

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Dallas Field Division