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Jury trial scheduled for insurance fraud case

MARSHALL — A jury trial is planned this week for a Marshall man charged with insurance fraud, Lyon County District Court records said. Court records said trial dates have been set for July 9-11 for Kenneth James DeBaere.

DeBaere, 55, is charged with two counts of insurance fraud, and one count of forgery, in a criminal case that was filed in Lyon County District Court in 2023, court records said. A criminal complaint alleges that in 2020, DeBaere backdated and forged a new commercial insurance policy application for a client.

The complaint alleged that the policy application was regarding a work-related accident involving Spencer Laleman with Laleman Septic & Plumbing. Laleman was a contractor who completed work on a job site that resulted in an explosion on Aug. 27, 2020, the complaint said.

A gas explosion in the early morning of Aug. 27, 2020, destroyed a house east of Marshall.

The complaint alleged that Laleman’s liability policy was canceled in February 2020. A new application for Laleman, which had signatures from DeBaere and Laleman, was dated Aug. 25, 2020, the complaint alleges.

Laleman denied signing the new policy application, the complaint alleges. The complaint alleged DeBaere denied signing the application on Laleman’s behalf, but agreed there were “drastic differences” between the signature on the application and other signatures provided by Laleman.

The complaint also alleges the application had inaccuracies, like describing Laleman’s business as a healthcare software company, and having a start date of August 1986, when Laleman would have been four years old.

Online court records said trial dates in the case were set for July 9-11.

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