Former NFL Player Fakes Hate Crime to Obtain Insurance

Authorities arrested 31-year-old Edawn Louis Coughman, former National Football League player last Thursday, September 12, 2019. The former NFL player reportedly faked a hate crime in his place of business to obtain insurance coverage.

To get money from Coughman’s insurance company, the star reportedly enacted a premeditated plan that sought to portray the whole incident as a hate crime towards his business located in Georgia.

Image from Fox News

Police statements reveal that “Edawn conjured a premeditated plan to damage his own property, attempt to make it appear as a hate crime, file a claim with his insurance company and sell off the undamaged appliances and electronics,” reports Time.

Images from the crime scene show Coughman having painted racial slurs geared towards his business establishment, including a swastika and a Make America Great Again or MAGA acronym painted in different parts of the shop. Walls and booth cushions were also spray-painted in black with racially damaging words, such as ‘Monkey,’ states CNN.  There were also broken mirrors, cut wires, and a video surveillance system located in the area, with spray paint appearing wet and fresh to the touch.

Local authorities were alerted by an anonymous tipper saying a person was disrupting business and wreaking havoc inside Create & Bake Pizza and Coughman’s Creamery, with the witness saying the suspect drove a black car without a license plate attached to it.

Upon dispatch, authorities found Coughman driving the same vehicle, resulting in a confrontation. In addition to the damaged interiors,  police officers saw “several televisions in the bed of the truck and inside the cab,” with some “still attached to the brackets with damaged drywall,” said the police.

Following this, Edawn Coughman was charged with falsification of documents, as well as crime insurance fraud. Moreover, the 31-year-old was also charged for hiding a license plate. However, Coughman was later released on bond under Jackie Patterson, his lawyer.