Pike County couple pleads guilty to insurance fraud

ZEBUL0N - A woman and her husband who falsely claimed she was killed in the World Trade Center attacks were sentenced today to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to seven counts each of insurance fraud. <br> <br> Forty-year-old Cynthia Gavett and 44-year-old Charles Allen Gavett were accused of filing false death claims to collect about 273-thousand dollars. In addition to the jail terms, each was fined ten-thousand dollars. <br> <br> The couple has two children. <br> <br> An attorney for Cynthia Gavett, Charles O&#39;Neill Junior, said the children were with family in Florida. <br> <br> The Gavetts were arrested November 26th and charged with attempting to defraud Minnesota Life Insurance Company by claiming Cynthia Gavett had an appointment at the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks. <br> <br> When Minnesota Life asked Pike County Sheriff Jimmy Thomas to verify that she was missing, a deputy reported seeing Cynthia Gavett alive and well in Concord, 45 miles south of Atlanta. <br> <br> Authorities said the couple already had collected from Allstate, C-U-N-A, Fortis and Colonial Life and Accident. Charles Gavett also made claims against his wife&#39;s life insurance policies with Mutual of Omaha and MetLife, but those claims had not been paid. <br> <br> In December, U-S District Court Judge Jack Camp ruled that the couple&#39;s assets -- cash, car and a house, combined worth more than $400-thousand -- should be frozen until the case is resolved.