COLUMBUS - Jury selection began yesterday in the trial of a former Fairfield County Municipal Court judge accused of setting his house on fire to collect insurance money.
Don McAuliffe is charged with federal arson and insurance fraud in U.S. District Court. He is accused of torching his Millersport home along Buckeye Lake and fraudulently collecting $235,000 in insurance. If convicted, he faces up to 12 1/2 years in prison.
Since his April 24 arrest, McAuliffe has been confined in the Franklin County Jail. Judges twice have denied him bail after hearing tape recordings of him threatening his lover and a business associate, both of whom are expected to be government witnesses.
McAuliffe collected about half of his $101,000 annual salary from his jail cell until county commissioners and the Lancaster City Council voted to remove him from office.
Patrick Harris, a former county prosecutor, was elected in November to McAuliffe's seat.
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