PITTSBURGH - The business owner who paid a teen to set fire to his Cranberry Township sports store was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison.
Thomas Smith II, of Wheeling, W. Va., pleaded guilty in February to federal charges of arson and insurance fraud in connection with the fire at Cranberry Towne Center Plaza on Route 19.
Prosecutors said Smith, 26, was having financial problems and solicited three juveniles to set fire to Play It Again Sports in January 2007. One of the teens agreed, and Smith showed him how to set the fire by using a heat gun.
Investigators said after the store closed, the teen used the heat gun to ignite several cardboard boxes in the back room of the store and left the building. The ensuing fire destroyed Smith's business, as well as damaging three other businesses in the strip mall.
U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond sentenced Smith to five years of supervised release once he completes his prison term and ordered him to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution to the damaged businesses and the insurance companies that paid his fraudulent claims.
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