May trial set for men accused of torching their business
Posted: Sunday, February 24, 2008
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Two Sioux Falls men charged with burning their business to collect the insurance money are scheduled to stand trial in May.
Dai Thanh Ong, 27, and Chad Michael Blair, 31, are charged in federal court with conspiracy and arson.
Blair is also charged with an unrelated scheme to set fire to a truck in Des Moines, Iowa, so the owner could claim insurance benefits.
He and Ong ran Mobile Acoustics & Window Tinting in Sioux Falls and came up with a plan to pay someone to burn the place down, according to the indictment.
After the close of business Aug. 9, 2006, Blair, Ong and another person poured gasoline inside the establishment, and the next day Blair and Ong set fire to it, the document states.
The accomplice's name is not included in court documents.
The fire destroyed the inside of the building and did about $110,000 in damage, said C.J. Bowker, who manages the property in which the business was located.
Dai Thanh Ong, 27, and Chad Michael Blair, 31, are charged in federal court with conspiracy and arson.
Blair is also charged with an unrelated scheme to set fire to a truck in Des Moines, Iowa, so the owner could claim insurance benefits.
He and Ong ran Mobile Acoustics & Window Tinting in Sioux Falls and came up with a plan to pay someone to burn the place down, according to the indictment.
After the close of business Aug. 9, 2006, Blair, Ong and another person poured gasoline inside the establishment, and the next day Blair and Ong set fire to it, the document states.
The accomplice's name is not included in court documents.
The fire destroyed the inside of the building and did about $110,000 in damage, said C.J. Bowker, who manages the property in which the business was located.
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