A new affidavit details for the first time how the former owner of Boulder’s only competitive dance studio allegedly staged a break-in and hired others to pose as burglars as part of a scheme to collect nearly $500,000 in insurance payouts. The affidavit, released April 6, comes months after the business closed abruptly amid unpaid rent and allegations of fraud.
Cindy Burdine was indicted by a grand jury on March 27 on 21 felony charges. When Boulder Reporting Lab’s first story on the studio was published in January, the Attorney General’s Office would not confirm whether its investigation was related to the break-in.
Now, an arrest affidavit states prosecutors believe Burdine staged a burglary at her studio on July 28, 2023. Prosecutors and police say Burdine hired two young men to pose as burglars on security camera footage, enlisted the help of one of her employees to cause extensive damage to the studio, and then forged documents to make it appear as though the break-in had cost the studio hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost income.
“The next morning [after the break-in], an uninvolved dance instructor arrived at the studio to find it vandalized,” the affidavit reads. “The instructor called the Boulder Police Department to report the damage, and officers responded. Burdine arrived shortly after and reported to the officers that she believed skateboarders had caused the damage.”
A Boulder police news release from July 31, 2023, said: “The business has reported having negative encounters with a group of teenage males who skateboard outside of the studio that range from conversations to the teens peeking into windows and coming inside.”
State Farm paid Burdine nearly half a million dollars for her claims related to the burglary.
When Boulder Reporting Lab asked Burdine in January about allegations circulating by then that she staged the break-in, she responded that she “had no idea there were such allegations.”
“That’s heartbreaking,” she said. “I’m sad that someone would even suggest such a thing. I almost closed when that [break-in] happened. I just about gave up because that was just too much after the pandemic.”
“That is a terrible rumor,” she went on. “That is something that I consider slander or libel, whichever it is.”
Soon after the incident, Burdine filed an insurance claim that included damage to the building and loss of income. According to the Attorney General’s Office, Burdine submitted “numerous invoices from dance studios,” some altered or fabricated, to show income she claimed to have lost as a result of the burglary. In one instance, investigators say, she altered eight bank statements to make it appear as though her business was losing money.
In another, Burdine allegedly created a fake business, “Revolution Dance Sport,” built a website, and had a “male associate” pose as a representative for the company on a call with State Farm to create a fake billing statement from the business. One $20,000 check that Burdine claimed to be a payment from her studio to Revolution Dance Sport was actually paid to a cosmetic surgery company for Burdine, according to the affidavit.
In February 2024, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office received a tip from a former employee that the studio was open and operating, despite Burdine claiming “loss of income” due to the burglary. The state forwarded the tip to State Farm, which stopped paying Burdine and began its own investigation.
The affidavit also states the staged break-in followed a separate case of insurance fraud in April 2023, in which Burdine filed an online report with Boulder police claiming someone broke into her studio and stole computers and cash. Burdine filed a claim with State Farm and was paid about $70,000 for loss of property and income. “In reality, no burglary took place,” the affidavit reads.
Other charges include theft and insurance fraud related to insurance claims Burdine filed following the break-in. The Attorney General’s Office also accuses Burdine of attempting to influence a public servant, Boulder Police Officer Danys Chartrand, “by means of deceit,” and forging several documents to support her claims, including invoices from the Boulder Dance Coalition, Revolution Dance pay statements and Elevation Credit Union statements.
“In total, State Farm paid out $498,201.54 on the July 2023 claim for the damage to the studio and loss of business income based on the false statements and documents provided by Burdine,” the affidavit reads.
Burdine has a warrant out for her arrest in Thornton, according to the Thornton Police Department. She had not yet been arrested as of April 6.
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