1989

MARY FAYE CRAFT'S SON TESTIFIES AT FRAUD TRIAL
Washington Post-Wednesday, March 15, 1989

CRAFT CONVICTED OF THEFT INSURANCE FIRM PAID FOR 'STOLEN' SILVER
Washington Post-Tuesday, March 21, 1989

MARY FAYE CRAFT GIVEN SUSPENDED FRAUD TERM SHE WAS ACQUITTED EARLIER IN HUSBAND'S DEATH
Washington Post-Saturday, May 13, 1989

MARY FAYE CRAFT'S SON TESTIFIES AT FRAUD TRIAL
By Patricia Davis Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 15, 1989 ; Page C03

A son of Mary Faye Craft testified in court yesterday that his mother told him her husband, a retired Air Force general, "somehow arranged" for the theft and concealment of silver and jewelry that police found hidden in her Springfield home while investigating the general's death. Joseph Craft's testimony in Fairfax County Circuit Court came on the opening day of his mother's trial on an insurance fraud charge, her second trial in five months.

Craft, 53, was acquitted by a jury of murdering her husband, Maj. Gen. Robert E. Sadler, in October in West Virginia. Yesterday, she pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a jury in favor of a bench trial because of publicity generated by the murder case. At times during the first trial, Craft reduced spectators to tears and shouted out her innocence from the witness stand. She testified that the shooting of Sadler, her fifth husband, was an accident that occurred while he was playing with a gun at her farm in Grant County, W.Va. Craft's trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court began on a less dramatic note, although reporters nearly outnumbered spectators. If convicted of the felony charge, Craft could receive a maximum of 20 years in prison from Chief Circuit Judge Lewis H. Griffith.

Craft was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses from her insurance company after Fairfax police searched her home in June, two months after Sadler's death, and seized about 300 pieces of silver and jewelry from behind a false wall in a family room closet and in a shed. Two years earlier, the items had been reported stolen in a burglary. Joseph Craft, 22, testified that he discovered the wall and the 2-foot-by-2-foot space behind it while looking for a place to store his guns.

While his mother first denied its presence, he testified, his curiosity eventually got the better of him and he removed the wall, finding silver and jewelry in boxes. "Well, basically, I confronted her about it," Joseph Craft told Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elizabeth Luttig. "She said, basically, it was stuff from the burglary . . . . that I shouldn't mess with it." Before telling police about his discovery, Joseph Craft said, he was approached by his brother James and an FBI agent, who believed Mary Faye Craft might be involved in espionage and that documents might be hidden behind the wall. When Joseph Craft told his mother about the FBI's interest, he said, she told him that Sadler had "somehow arranged" to have the house burglarized, possibly by one of his sons from a previous marriage.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Rodney G. Leffler asked Joseph Craft whether his mother had meant that Sadler had recovered items from the burglary, not arranged it. He responded that his mother was "vague" about what had actually happened. Leffler said in his opening statement that Sadler had commissioned a friend of his wife's to build the false wall, but the attorney stopped short of saying that Sadler had been involved in the burglary.

Instead, Leffler raised questions, including: Why would Mary Faye Craft stage a burglary of items worth more than $150,000 to recoup only $15,893.62 in insurance? Where was the seven-carat diamond ring and Russian Samovar she reported as stolen? As the final prosecution witness yesterday, Officer J.M. Halley said that during an inventory of the jewlery and silver, he was struck by the fact that some of the items were packed in the same order in which they were listed on inventory sheets to the insurance company. The trial will resume on Monday, after a judges' meeting in Richmond.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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CRAFT CONVICTED OF THEFT INSURANCE FIRM PAID FOR 'STOLEN' SILVER
By Patricia Davis Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 21, 1989 ; Page C01

A Fairfax County judge convicted Mary Faye Craft yesterday of obtaining money under false pretenses from her insurance company in a scheme involving theft of silver and jewelry that was later discovered concealed in her Springfield home. Craft, 53, who was acquitted by a jury five months ago of murdering her fifth husband, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert E. Sadler, responded to yesterday's ruling by Chief Circuit Judge Lewis H. Griffith by expressing amazement.

Outside the courtroom she sobbed and declared, "I can't believe it. I can't believe it." Her son, Joseph Craft, 22, and neighbors and friends closed in around her protectively. Craft, free on bond, could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. Sadler's children from a previous marriage had a different reaction. "She's a convicted felon and that feels good," shouted Kathe Sadler-Wright seconds later outside the courtroom. "To quote Mary Faye, 'Praise the Lord!' " Sadler-Wright, one of the general's six adult children, was recalling Craft's words in October when a jury in West Virginia acquitted her of murdering Sadler during a visit to her 187-acre farm in Grant County, W.Va.

As Craft, shielded by friends, proceeded down the courthouse hallway, Sadler-Wright and other children of Sadler's children repeated shouts of "Praise the Lord!" Her son Joseph replied by shouting: "Why don't you shut up?" Before making his ruling Judge Griffith declared that he was not presiding over a retrial of the murder charge. Craft's acquittal in that case came after she said that her husband shot himself to death accidentally as he played with a gun.

The insurance theft case grew out of Craft's report of a burglary on April 19, 1986, when she said someone ransacked her home and stole nearly 300 pieces of jewelry and silver valued at about $150,000. She collected $15,893.62 from United Services Automobile Association, an insurance company that deals mostly with military families. Then, two years later, police investigating her husband's death searched the home and found the items behind a false wall in a family room closet and in a shed.

Investigators had been told of the false wall by Craft's son, Joseph, who testified last week that he had spotted it and the hidden items in the 2-by-2 foot space behind it while looking for a place to store his guns. He testified that his mother's explanation was that Sadler "somehow arranged" for the theft and concealment of the silver and jewelry. Under cross-examination by his mother's attorney, Joseph Craft said his mother was "vague" about what happened.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elizabeth Luttig, who prosecuted the case, maintained that Mary Faye Craft staged the burglary and falsely collected the insurance money. Luttig maintained that Craft prepared an inventory of her valuables in "anticipation" of the burglary. The prosecutor noted that after police seized the boxed valuables, including a Russian Samovar, Craft did not mention the inventory in her possession. Luttig pointed to Officer J.M. Halley's testimony during the two-day trial that many of the items seized from behind the wall and the locked shed were packed in the same order in which they were listed on inventory sheets submitted to the insurance company.

Taking the witness stand in her own defense yesterday for the second time in five months, Craft testified that Sadler told her about seven or eight months after the burglary that he had recovered the stolen items, but "he didn't tell me what was recovered." "My husband had a temper, he was a general used to having things his own way," Craft told her attorney. She also testified that Sadler was "the most honest man you'd ever want to meet." In a sharp exchange on cross-examination, Luttig asked Craft why her husband wouldn't show Craft her own valuables, which Craft said were contained in two packing boxes at her home. "He did not want to open them," Craft replied. "I was very anxious to see what was in those boxes." "But they were your items," Luttig said. "But he was my husband," Craft replied.

Craft testified that she had her suspicions about what was going on, hinting that a relative of Sadler's might have had something to do with the burglary. Some time later, she said, her husband, whom she had recently married, commissioned a longtime friend of hers to build a false wall in her family room, behind which the items were placed. Craft said she told her husband that they needed to reimburse the insurance company, and he told her he'd take care of it. But then, she testified, her husband accidentally shot himself to death at her West Virginia farm April 9 and there was no time to send the company a check.

My world practically came to an end. I haven't had time to grieve in peace," she testified. Defense attorney Rodney G. Leffler argued yesterday that there were too many unanswered questions remaining in the confusing and circumstantial case. "This is a reasonable doubt case," he told Griffith. "There's no getting around that this is a bizarre set of circumstances."

Craft waived her right to a jury trial because of publicity generated by the murder case. Asked if Craft would appeal, Leffler declined to comment last night. Craft faces additional legal problems. The insurance company has filed suit against her in the burglary case and in a fire at Craft's former home in South Carolina that was attributed to arson. In addition, attorneys said during the latest trial proceedings that a $9 million wrongful death suit, filed by Sadlers' children, is pending against Craft.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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MARY FAYE CRAFT GIVEN SUSPENDED FRAUD TERM SHE WAS ACQUITTED EARLIER IN HUSBAND'S DEATH
By Kent Jenkins Jr. Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 13, 1989 ; Page B04

Mary Faye Craft, a Fairfax County woman who attracted national attention when she was acquitted of murdering her husband last year, was given a suspended sentence yesterday for obtaining money under false pretenses from a homeowner's insurance policy.

Craft, 53, joyfully hugged relatives and friends after Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Lewis H. Griffith imposed a three-year suspended sentence on the felony conviction. She steadfastly maintained her innocence, and her attorney, Rodney G. Leffler, said she had suffered enough without being jailed. "As God as my witness, I am not guilty," Craft told Griffith before he passed sentence. "I love God, I love my family, I love my country."

She declined to comment outside the courtroom. The sentence was the latest twist in a case that even Leffler said is bizarre. Craft was accused last year of shooting to death her fifth husband, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert E. Sadler, at a farm she owned in Grant County, W.Va. The shooting initially was ruled an accident, but she was charged with murder after Sadler's brother and children from a previous marriage began their own investigation. A jury found Craft not guilty in November after she tearfully testified in her own defense.

During the murder investigation, however, Fairfax County police found a cache of jewelry and silver worth about $150,000 hidden behind a false wall in Craft's Springfield home. Craft had reported the items stolen, and had collected $15,893.62 from her insurance company. Prosecutors contended at Craft's trial in March that she faked a robbery before filing an insurance claim. Among those who testified against her was one of her sons, Joseph Craft, who said his mother instructed him not to tell anyone when he accidentally found the valuables.

Leffler pointed out that his client already had paid back the insurance company and said that the trials and publicity had wrecked her life. "She has lost her good name," Leffler told Griffith. "She has lost her son. The children of her late husband {Sadler} are here, not in support of her. They want her to go to the penitentiary. Must she be punished more?" But Elizabeth Luttig, the assistant commonwealth's attorney who prosecuted the case, said Craft deserved imprisonment.

Craft's crime "shows a calculating and criminal mind," Luttig said. "The defendant states that she is a victim in this case . . . but she has shown no remorse." Griffith emphasized that he could not consider any matters related to the murder trial in imposing sentence in the insurance matter. "This is a single case . . . {and} an appropriate sentence in this case, and this case alone," he said. Craft's legal troubles are far from over.

Sadler's family has filed a civil suit that charges Craft was responsible for his death and that seeks $9 million in damages. Two of his children from a previous marriage, John and Tierney Sadler, said they continue to believe that Craft killed their father. "The truth about what happened to my father is still to come," John Sadler said. "There are some things about Mary Faye Craft that haven't been revealed yet."

Also, Craft's insurance company, the United Services Automobile Association, has filed a suit alleging that she was responsible for a fire that destroyed a house she owned in South Carolina several years ago. That suit seeks $100,000 in punitive damages.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.

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