John "Rick" Vosburgh was sent to prison Monday for his role in taking out a life insurance policy on a disabled teenage girl prior to her death in an arson fire at his Layton home three years ago.
Vosburgh, 37, was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison on his guilty plea to a second-degree felony charge of insurance fraud.Defense attorney Brad Rich downplayed Rick Vosburgh's role in the scheme, saying he just "stupidly" went along for the ride in a plot carried out by his estranged wife, Tonya Vosburgh.
Bobbi Jo Womack, 18, died in the March 1993 fire that was set in the garage. She was trapped behind a wall of gasoline-fueled flame, preventing her from escaping from the garage.
Tonya Vosburgh pleaded guilty in April to manslaughter and insurance fraud, both second-degree felonies, in Womack's death and will be sentenced when a mental and physical evaluation is completed.
The couple had been caring for Womack and were in the process of trying to adopt her. Injured as a child in a car accident, Womack had a trust fund of around $275,000 when Tonya Vosburgh met her while working in a group home.
Prosecutors believe the adoption and then death of Womack were part of a plan to get access to her trust fund.
Rich told Judge Glen Dawson that Rick Vosburgh is gullible and was abused by his estranged wife and went along with what she told him to do. He also asked the judge to reduce the sentence to a third-degree felony level of zero to five years in prison, which Dawson took under advisement.
The Vosburghs were originally charged with homicide and aggravated arson, both first-degree felonies, and faced up to life in prison in addition to the insurance fraud charge.
Rick Vosburgh agreed to plead guilty to the single charge and the two first-degree felonies were dismissed. He also agreed to testify against his wife and did so in her December 1995 preliminary hearing.
Prosecutor Carvel Harward said the plea agreement was not offered in exchange for his testimony but because he came to believe that Tonya, not Rick Vosburgh, was the instigator of the plot.
Rick Vosburgh said Monday in court he made a mistake in going along with the scheme but never thought it would go as far as it did.
"I'm basically a good person, I think," he told the judge, apologizing for his actions.
Dawson said he imposed the full prison sentence, along with a $10,000 fine, to punish Rick Vosburgh for what he did and protect society from any more frauds.
After being charged in May 1993, Tonya Vosburgh suffered head injuries in a fall and from a series of strokes, leaving her mentally and physically impaired.