Crime & Safety
Spencer Businessman To Be Sentenced For Arson, Wire Fraud
A Spencer man was convicted for burning down his Rhode Island business and attempting to collect the insurance money.
WORCESTER COUNTY, MA — A Spencer man who owned a business in Rhode Island was found guilty of setting his business on fire and attempting to collect on an insurance policy worthy nearly one million dollars.
A federal court jury in Providence on Friday convicted Daniel E. Saad, 51, of devising and executing a scheme to burn down his Glocester, R.I., restaurant, Snow’s Clam Box Restaurant and Pub, and then trying to collect the insurance money.
The jury convicted Saad on one count of arson, one count of use of fire to commit wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud, said the US attorney-district of Rhode Island. The jury found that Saad set fire to his business shortly after 5 a.m. on Nov. 30, 2014, and then initiated insurance claims via email later the same day and on the following day.
Saad owed banks, private lenders and vendors nearly $2.5 million dollars, according to evidence given during the three-week trial. He reportedly entered the building through an unlocked rear door, spread gasoline in and around a bar area and ignited the gas before fleeing the building. A woman who lived in an apartment above the restaurant reported the fire after fleeing from the building.
United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha commented, “Acts of arson pose a tremendous public safety threat, to the public generally and to first responders. This case is no exception. That this defendant would deliberately burn a building he owned to the ground, with his tenant living in the building and present at the time, demonstrates his utter disregard for the safety of others. He now faces at least a decade in federal prison for this behavior. Every day is well-deserved.”
Saad on two occasions told investigators he was at his home in MA when the fire occurred. During a subsequent interview he told investigators that he was at his estranged wife’s home in Webster, MA. On two occasions during interviews with state and federal investigators, Saad’s wife corroborated Saad’s account. However, after being summoned to appear before a federal grand jury and again when testifying during Daniel Saad’s trial, she changed her story and admitted that Daniel Saad had asked her to provide an alibi for him for the night of the fire. She testified that he was not with her that night.
Cellular data collected and analyzed by law enforcement placed Saad’s cellphone in very close proximity to his restaurant at the time the fire began.
Saad is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27, and could face up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The use of fire to commit wire fraud is punishable by a statutory minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of supervised release of up to three years.
