Nov 2, 2005 10:58 pm US/Central
Fire Departments Allegedly Helped In Scam
by Pam Zekman
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Last month the CBS 2 Investigators exposed an alleged multi-million dollar scam that ripped off fire victims across the city and suburbs.
Now former employees are telling CBS 2's Pam Zekman how the man charged with running the scam got his foot in the door of vulnerable homeowners with help from suburban fire departments.
They arrive soon after the fire trucks, board-up companies chasing fires to get a piece of the action.
The competition is so fierce that fire departments in many suburbs maintain a rotating list of board-up companies to call.
Tad Christensen increased his calls by loading up the list with more than a half dozen board-up companies operated by him or his family, according to former employees.
"The board-up was the first step in the door to get the construction," said one employee. And the construction "was the moneymaker."
It was a money maker that supported Christensen's expensive hobby -- hunting animals around the world.
Now Christensen and his wife, Donna, have been charged with fraud for collecting insurance money for fire restoration work that was not done.
To get the work, former employees say the Christensens made payments to some suburban officials.
In those suburbs, the employees say Christensen's companies had a lock on the board-up business.
"Cicero was probably among five towns that were just Tad's. They didn't utilize any other company," said one former employee.
Records show Christensen's companies contributed to campaigns for Cicero town presidents. In 1996, he also wrote a check from his board-up company to then Cicero Town President Betty Loren Maltese for $6,000.
"I was told that it was money that was owed to her period," the former employee said.
Maltese is now in prison for her part in a $10 million insurance scam and could not be reached for comment.
"What do you think those payments were for?" Pam Zekman asked.
"He wanted all the towns to himself, he wanted all the work to come to just his board up company," the former employee said.
Jeanette LaRue, another former employee, says she was there when Donna Christensen put about $1,500 cash in an envelope and delivered it to a fire department official in another suburb.
"Did you hear her say anything to him," Zekman asked.
"Just here's what we owe you for the past month or two months," LaRue said.
She believes the money was a payoff -- another example of how Christiansen spread money around to secure his position as the go to board-up guy for fire departments in many suburbs.
"They are supposed to be protecting these people that live in these cities and villages and basically they were just turning them over to scam artists," LaRue said.
CBS 2 talked to fire department officials in more than half a dozen suburbs who say they no longer do business with Christensen's board-up companies.
The Christiansen's could not be reached for comment. Since their arrest last month, they've been in jail unable to meet the bond requirements set by a judge. Their lawyers had no comment.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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