Woman accused of hiring hit man to kill husband charged with welfare fraud, arson
Martie Soderberg is facing nearly a dozen new criminal charges because of information that turned up while detectives were investigating her for attempting to have her husband murdered.
The alleged crimes date back to 2005 and include welfare fraud, perjury, tampering with a witness, theft, insurance fraud and arson.
Soderberg and her husband married in 2002 and Soderberg filed for food stamps and other benefits in 2005, claiming she was single and had no job. She allegedly received nearly $40,000 in benefits over several years by giving false information and forging signatures on documents, according to court records.
In reality, Soderberg had been living with her husband, who made too much money for them to qualify for benefits. The deception reportedly came to light after Soderberg was arrested in October for attempted murder. In December, Soderberg made a recorded phone call from the Spokane County Jail to her daughter and instructed her daughter to tell Soderberg’s husband to tell welfare investigators that he had not lived with her, according to court documents.
The mobile home the Soderbergs were living in at the Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park in Medical Lake burned down in 2013 while the family was out of town. The fire originally was thought to have been caused by a faulty air conditioner.
During the attempted-murder investigation, detectives recorded a conversation between Soderberg and the man she was allegedly attempting to hire to kill her husband. During that conversation Soderberg made several references to the arson fire and who set it, according to court documents. She reportedly said she was “really impressed that he could pull off my fire.”
According to court documents, Soderberg persuaded a male friend to set fire to the home so she could collect the insurance money and escape her husband. The friend said Soderberg planned the entire thing and he went along, setting the fire.
In 2015, the man got a letter from “Jack,” who claimed to have seen him start the fire and demanded that the man leave $600 under Soderberg’s porch every month, or else “Jack” would report the arson to police. The man who set the fire told detectives he complied with the blackmail demand and gave $600 a month to Soderberg to leave at the designated drop point. The payments continued until she was arrested.
Detectives believe Soderberg wrote the letter from Jack based on the writing style and spelling errors, court documents state. Soderberg received more than $70,000 in insurance money after the fire and bank records show she made deposits that appear to coincide with the monthly blackmail payments, according to court documents.