Las Vegas Weekly

Our own Darwin Award nominee?

A North Las Vegas fire captain is indicted for torching his own ride

Illustration: Colleen Wang

As we reported in April, setting fire to your car in order to rid yourself of debt is kind of, you know, dumb. Because you may set yourself on fire, for one, and because, even if you don’t, you’re probably going to get busted. Owner give-ups are common enough. The state attorney general’s office reports that since December of last year, its Insurance Fraud Unit has handled more than 40 arson cases involving cars. But it turns out even people who should know better don’t: Last week the state AG indicted North Las Vegas Fire Department Captain Gary Stover on felony charges of arson, arson with intent to defraud insurer, insurance fraud and two counts of theft. According to the indictment, Stover’s vehicle was discovered on fire in the desert west of the 215 a day after he reported it stolen. The fire captain, the indictment says, had already filed an insurance claim, and his insurance carrier paid out $35,000, “eliminating the debt owed, including about $12,000 of negative equity.” Obviously, it’s not exactly wise to fight fire with fire.