Two Women Avoid Jail in State Fair Stage Collapse Scam
By: Chris Veech
Updated: November 9, 2012
Two women who tried to make money from the deadly Indiana State Fair stage collapse will avoid going to jail. 26-year-old Stephanie Murry pleaded guilty to forgery after filing a fake claim and receiving nearly $3,000 from the Indiana Tort Claim Fund. Murry was sentenced to three years on work release.
Murry's aunt, 38-year-old Sandra Hurn, received $75,000 from the State Fair Remembrance Fund. She agreed to plead guilty to charges of forgery in exchange for two years on home detention and three years probation.
Seven people died, and dozens more were hurt when rigging gave out in August 2011. Prosecutors said Hurn scammed the fund by claiming she was an 11-year-old girl who'd been trampled during the chaos that followed the collapse.
