Sentencing pushed to March for Cheyenne Hitching Post insurance fraud

Nov. 25--CHEYENNE -- A New Jersey man charged with arson in connection with the Hitching Post Inn fire that happened here five years ago will not be sentenced until March.

Falgun Dharia was set to be sentenced last Friday in a federal courtroom in New York for a single count of conspiring to commit insurance fraud.

That hearing is now scheduled for March 4.

Dharia, a former owner of the longtime local lodging facility on West Lincolnway, was indicted in September 2014 by a Wyoming federal grand jury on six counts:

- Conspiring to commit insurance fraud by mail and wire;

- Aiding and abetting wire fraud;

- Conspiring to commit arson;

- Aiding and abetting arson;

- Conspiring to use fire in the commission of another felony offense; and

- Aiding and abetting the use of fire in the commission of another felony.

The charges were transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York this past July for sentencing purposes after Dharia and federal prosecutors reached a plea agreement.

Dharia has admitted to knowing about the arson when filing an insurance claim for more than $13 million. But he denies any involvement in the arson itself.

He also is awaiting sentencing in a bank fraud case charged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in July 2014.

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