OfficerBlueCouncil Bluffs, IA – The ex-wife of murdered Pottawattamie County Deputy Mark Burbridge is suing his widow over $160,000 in donation money.
The deputy was murdered in May 2017 after a sentencing for Wesley Correa-Carmenaty.
Correa-Carmenaty was transported back to the Pottawattamie County Jail, and as the transport van arrived, Correa-Carmenaty used a concealed key to remove his shackles.
He then obtained a firearm from the van, shot Deputy Burbridge and another deputy, and rammed the exit doorway to escape.
The suspect then shot a citizen in an attempted carjacking. He then carjacked another nearby vehicle and briefly kidnapping the female driver before dropping her off at a liquor store near 30th Street and Laurel Ave, according to Omaha World Herald.
Officers located him and took him into custody after a short pursuit.
He has since been sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
Following the murder of Deputy Burbridge, $160,000 in donations were made to his family. The money was transferred to the murdered hero’s widow, Jessica Burbridge.
However the deputy’s ex-wife, Sara Reinsch, who had two children with him before divorcing in 2012, said that she should get some of the money for her children, because she claims that the donations were supposed to go to both the deputy’s wife and children.
In a court petition, Reinsch complains that the sheriff’s office wouldn’t give her access to the donation account, and that the widow has now removed all of the money from the account.
“The fund was advertised in numerous publications, news outlets and on social media, each time representing the funds would go to help Mark’s wife and three children,” the Reinsch’s petition stated, according to The Daily Nonpareil. “Jessica has now depleted the fund and taken all the money meant to assist Mark’s children following his death, leaving them nothing after openly exploiting them for personal gain.”
In a response to the court, Jessica Burbridge said that the deputy’s children are the beneficiaries of a $400,000 life insurance policy, $171,000 from the Department of Justice and $8,000 from the Homicide Survivor’s Group.
Reinsch’s attorney countered that the children are not the beneficiaries of the $400,000 life insurance policy.
The county says that Reinsch’s two children with the deputy, Kaleb, 15, and Karley, 14, have been receiving $602 per month from worker’s comp and $621 in health insurance benefits per month from the county since his murder, according to Omaha World-Herald.
Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber told The Nonpareil that the county had no involvement in the donation accounts.
“I would say, however, that the timing of the lawsuit is unfortunate,” Wilber said. “This lawsuit was filed just before the anniversary of Mark’s death, and the Sheriff’s Office and Mark’s widow having to answer a lawsuit during the preparations for Police Memorial Week made an already tragic situation even more sad.”