Grand jury testimony points finger at Pleasanton woman accused of arson
PLEASANTON — A mountain of debt cloaked in years of forged spousal signatures and a pending foreclosure were the motive for a Pleasanton woman to burn down her home in a 2008 fire, according to arguments given by prosecutors before the Alameda County grand jury.
Deonna Zuffa, 43, was critically injured in the fire that she is accused of setting.
During the grand jury proceedings, which ended with an indictment of Zuffa on Dec. 20, prosecutors presented testimony from witnesses who said Zuffa used gasoline throughout her east Pleasanton home to ignite it the morning of Dec. 8, 2008, three days before her unsuspecting family was to be evicted due to foreclosure.
The grand jury indicted Zuffa on two counts of arson, and she pleaded not guilty Jan. 4. The fire destroyed the home, caused more than $200,000 in damage to two homes next door and left Zuffa with burns over 50 percent of her body.
Her defense attorney, Joseph Penrod, has made a motion to keep the transcripts sealed, which will be heard at a 9 a.m. court hearing Monday in Hayward. The Bay Area News Group obtained a copy of the transcripts last week.
In the transcripts, Alameda County senior deputy district attorney William Denny describes Zuffa as a master of keeping things bottled up. Testimony and evidence presented showed Zuffa was able to hide bankruptcy, foreclosure and deep financial debt incurred over the years from her husband and two sons.
“Ms. Zuffa had run out of options, her world collapsed and she engaged in conduct that was dangerous,” Denny said in his closing statement to the grand jury. “That dangerous conduct was not clever by design.”
Check out the rest of this bizarre store here…
~
Article does not mention anything about ILLEGAL foreclosure. It seems like a story of someone who couldn’t manage money, simple as that. Once she started digging herself into that hole, looks like there was no climbing out. And yes, she will go to jail, while the banksters stay bonused and happy.
She will GO TO JAIL, for exactly the same kinds of crimes being done by politicians and bankers.
Right on readdocs!! The banksters burn down peoples homes and livelihoods every day by committing fraud to sieze peoples homes and businesses that they have no legal right to take!! The only reason we are here is because the MONEYED ELITE, THE POLITICIANS..THE BANKS, WALL STREET, …..the GSES , ALL have a really sick GAMBLING PROBLEM!!! The moneyed elite bet that all of the politicians could be bought so the moneyed elite could steal ALL OF OUR WEALTH….and they were right…then their GSES…that they own the so called private side of the GSES…THE BANKS AND WALL STREET…IN COMMUNION WITH THE FED AND THE HIJACKED U.S.TREASURY DEPT….COMMITTED THE BIGGEST PONZI SCHEME SWINDLE AND HEIST OF OUR WEALTH AND HOMES IN HISTORY….! All done under the guise of the BIG LIE that people bought homes they could not afford..when in reality only 20% of the loans were liars loans!!..AND IN REALITY IT IS WALLSTREETS DEBT THAT IS UNSUSTAINABLE…AN ESTIMATED $1.2 Quadrillion dollars in derivatives fraud….!!! This was another moneyed elite Hitler Plan…! The crimes they have committed have literally wiped out the entire middle class…! Throw these crooks in prison…please!!