Oregon fraudster orders son to shoot him to delay start of prison term

A former Oregon developer convicted of mortgage fraud tried to delay the start of his 10-year prison sentence by asking his son to shoot him.

Shannon Egeland had initially told authorities he was shot in July by another motorist he had stopped to assist.

Investigators were suspicious about the case and discovered Egeland had taken out a death and dismemberment policy days before the shooting, reported The Oregonian.

The shooting broke a bone in his leg and required the amputation of one foot.

His 18-year-old son, Rylan Egeland, admitted to sheriff’s deputies in Canyon County, Idaho, that he shot his father in the lower legs with a borrowed shotgun.

The teen said his father had asked him to wound him.

The 40-year-old Egeland pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with the Desert Sun Development company, which used phony business plans and falsified loan applications to raise tens of millions of dollars from central Oregon banks.

He was one of 12 people indicted in connection with the case and the fifth to begin serving a prison term.

Court documents show that federal authorities had planned to charge the elder Egeland with insurance fraud before his son’s confession.

He has repeatedly asked the court to delay the start of his sentence, and a judge agreed to do so until October after the July 31 shooting.

Egeland has been taken into police custody and placed on a U.S. Marshals hold due to the insurance fraud charges.

It’s not clear whether his son, who was 17 years old at the time of the shooting, will be charged in the case.