JohnR
03-09-2001, 09:19 PM
From the Boston Herald, Friday March 9
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/scam03092001.htm
Fisherman netted in fake death scam
by Jose Martinez
Friday, March 9, 2001
Something about the apparent drowning of a Bay State fisherman off South Carolina seemed fishy, so authorities went to his home to talk to the grieving widow.
What the officers found was the dead man hiding in the bathroom.
``He wasn't right happy about being found,'' Charleston County Sheriff's Department spokesman Mitch Lucas said yesterday. ``That was just a bad stroke of luck for him, bubba.''
Now Martha's Vineyard-native Kenneth Chipperfield, 46, his wife Sharon Hatfield, 51, and his father, 72-year-old Gerald Chipperfield, all face charges in an elaborate $2 million life insurance scam.
The ruse began Feb. 23 when Chipperfield and his father left Charleston aboard the 48-foot shrimp boat Endurance.
About 10 a.m. that Friday, the elder Chipperfield radioed for help, saying his son had fallen overboard while climbing a ladder to reach a generator atop the cabin, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard and local authorities searched by air and sea well into the next day before suspending the operation. Chipperfield, the sixth-generation fisherman from Massachusetts who relocated to South Carolina four years ago, was presumed drowned. But folks around the Charleston Maritime Center told police they remembered seeing a smaller boat tied to the back of the Endurance when the trawler left port that morning. Investigators went looking for the senior Chipperfield only to discover he already had checked out of his hotel.
And when authorities showed up at Chipperfield's home in Hollywood, S.C. - a home the fisherman had bought for $262,000 in January - the grieving widow was gone, too.
``She had just left, according to a contractor nearby,'' Lucas said. ``But while there, we noticed an outside door open to the house. Thinking a burglary might be in progress, they went inside and found Mr. Chipperfield there.''
Chipperfield gave up almost immediately, telling officers he had hidden out in Georgia for a few days before returning to South Carolina.
``He was at the house at the wrong time,'' Lucas said.
Chipperfield and his wife both were arraigned last Saturday in Charleston. Hatfield was released on personal recognizance while her husband was released on $250,000 bond.
His father, arrested at home in Edgartown on Tuesday, waived extradition to South Carolina yesterday in Edgartown District Court. The elder fisherman denied knowing anything about the alleged scam.
``He's the one who said, `Mayday, mayday, my son fell overboard,' but he doesn't know anything about it,'' Lucas said.
Chipperfield, reached at his South Carolina home, declined to discuss his resurrection at the advice of his attorney but said he was being treated worse than murderers and rapists - who he watched walk free on lesser bails. He also accused police of breaking into his home to find him.
``This is all about us fishermen but nobody cares. It's a sad reality,'' Chipperfield said. ``Nobody knows the fish they eat, the bread they get from the supermarket, it's all from overseas corporations.''
On Martha's Vineyard, the elder Chipperfield's neighbors puzzled over how he could wind up running so afoul of the law.
``I feel very sad for him,'' said Emily Scott, Gerald Chipperfield's second wife, who divorced him 12 years ago but still lives next door. ``He is 72, he built his house on his own. He did it all on his own next door to me. He has five sons and none of them helped him.''
Can you believe this?? And he's getting picked on because he's a fisherman? Come on...
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/scam03092001.htm
Fisherman netted in fake death scam
by Jose Martinez
Friday, March 9, 2001
Something about the apparent drowning of a Bay State fisherman off South Carolina seemed fishy, so authorities went to his home to talk to the grieving widow.
What the officers found was the dead man hiding in the bathroom.
``He wasn't right happy about being found,'' Charleston County Sheriff's Department spokesman Mitch Lucas said yesterday. ``That was just a bad stroke of luck for him, bubba.''
Now Martha's Vineyard-native Kenneth Chipperfield, 46, his wife Sharon Hatfield, 51, and his father, 72-year-old Gerald Chipperfield, all face charges in an elaborate $2 million life insurance scam.
The ruse began Feb. 23 when Chipperfield and his father left Charleston aboard the 48-foot shrimp boat Endurance.
About 10 a.m. that Friday, the elder Chipperfield radioed for help, saying his son had fallen overboard while climbing a ladder to reach a generator atop the cabin, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard and local authorities searched by air and sea well into the next day before suspending the operation. Chipperfield, the sixth-generation fisherman from Massachusetts who relocated to South Carolina four years ago, was presumed drowned. But folks around the Charleston Maritime Center told police they remembered seeing a smaller boat tied to the back of the Endurance when the trawler left port that morning. Investigators went looking for the senior Chipperfield only to discover he already had checked out of his hotel.
And when authorities showed up at Chipperfield's home in Hollywood, S.C. - a home the fisherman had bought for $262,000 in January - the grieving widow was gone, too.
``She had just left, according to a contractor nearby,'' Lucas said. ``But while there, we noticed an outside door open to the house. Thinking a burglary might be in progress, they went inside and found Mr. Chipperfield there.''
Chipperfield gave up almost immediately, telling officers he had hidden out in Georgia for a few days before returning to South Carolina.
``He was at the house at the wrong time,'' Lucas said.
Chipperfield and his wife both were arraigned last Saturday in Charleston. Hatfield was released on personal recognizance while her husband was released on $250,000 bond.
His father, arrested at home in Edgartown on Tuesday, waived extradition to South Carolina yesterday in Edgartown District Court. The elder fisherman denied knowing anything about the alleged scam.
``He's the one who said, `Mayday, mayday, my son fell overboard,' but he doesn't know anything about it,'' Lucas said.
Chipperfield, reached at his South Carolina home, declined to discuss his resurrection at the advice of his attorney but said he was being treated worse than murderers and rapists - who he watched walk free on lesser bails. He also accused police of breaking into his home to find him.
``This is all about us fishermen but nobody cares. It's a sad reality,'' Chipperfield said. ``Nobody knows the fish they eat, the bread they get from the supermarket, it's all from overseas corporations.''
On Martha's Vineyard, the elder Chipperfield's neighbors puzzled over how he could wind up running so afoul of the law.
``I feel very sad for him,'' said Emily Scott, Gerald Chipperfield's second wife, who divorced him 12 years ago but still lives next door. ``He is 72, he built his house on his own. He did it all on his own next door to me. He has five sons and none of them helped him.''
Can you believe this?? And he's getting picked on because he's a fisherman? Come on...