Prosecutors: Wife Torched Family Home To Conceal Pending Eviction From Unwitting Family; F'closure Stemmed From Loans Obtained By Forging Hubby's Name

In Alameda County, California, the Contra Costa Times reports:

• 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.

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• 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.

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• Witnesses told the jury Zuffa kept track of the finances and had the only keys to the family's two P.O. boxes, helping to conceal the debt.



• Keith Zuffa testified that he didn't know his wife of 17 years had taken out loans against the house, which was in his name, and that as far back as 2001, she had been forging his signature. He knew nothing about the failed bankruptcy attempt he said, or an eviction notice delivered Dec. 4, 2008, four days before the fire.



• According to the transcripts, Keith Zuffa told the grand jury that his wife had kept secret that she borrowed money from his 401k, took a second loan on the home and forged his signature to give herself power of attorney, giving her authority to sign all loan documents. The deceit was revealed by investigators to Keith Zuffa in the days after the fire. He has since divorced his wife.



• "It was unbelievable to me that (Keith Zuffa) didn't know what was going on," Keith Batt, a Pleasanton police detective, told the grand jury. "But all the evidence showed he didn't know this was happening."

For more, see Grand jury testimony points finger at Pleasanton woman accused of arson.