KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. — A St. Albans man faces prison time after pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.
Donald Ennis, 43, pleaded guilty to his charges on Wednesday after he defrauded a local fire department and filed false insurance claims.
Ennis admitted to falsely filing insurance claims to obtain $347,237.70 after setting his house on fire in 2021. The residence and its contents were a total loss once the fire department failed to extinguish the fire.
In addition, Ennis admitted to obtaining $153,728 of the fire department he worked at in Tornado while he served as its finance and operations manager. Ennis began working for the department in 2009 and admitting to obtaining the sum of money from 2020 to 2022 when he had access to the department’s debit card. Ennis regularly served as the department’s accountant.
Ennis now faces a maximum of 20 years in prison with up to three years of supervised release, as well as a $250,000 fine. Ennis is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18. He owes $500,965.70 in restitution.