Brooklyn Center man who staged politically-motivated arson sentenced to 30 months in prison

Emily Baude KSTP

FILE - Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Brooklyn Center on Sept. 23, 2020. (KSTP/Chris Knoll)

A Brooklyn Center man was sentenced in federal court on Thursday for defrauding an insurance company in connection with a false claim of politically motivated arson.

Denis Vladmirovich Molla, 30, was sentenced to 30 months in prison in addition to a year of supervised release, according to court records. Molla is also required to pay $3,850 in restitution and $18,381 for filing fraudulent insurance claims.

Cout records show Molla pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in October 2022.

In September 2020, Molla made a false claim to law enforcement that someone had lit his camper on fire and vandalized his garage door with graffiti, according to court records. He also told police three men were near his home when he heard an explosion.

Molla told law enforcement his garage door was vandalized with the messages “Biden 2020” “BLM” and an Antifa symbol and that his campfire was targeted because it displayed a “Trump 2020” flag.

Following the incident, officials say Molla submitted multiple insurance claims related to his garage, camper, vehicles, and residence as a result of the fire. After the insurance company rejected some of those claims, Molla sent a written complaint to the company, threatening to report them to the Department of Commerce and the Attorney General and accusing the insurance company of defrauding him.

In addition to receiving money from the insurance claims, Molla garnered over $17,000 from individual donations from two separate GoFundMe’s that were set up in relation to the incident.

Court records show Molla submitted over $300,000 in fraudulent insurance claims. In total, he received about $61,000 from his insurance company.