Warren man sentenced in arson-for-profit scheme

Daryl Evans - 2002 booking photo

A federal judge has sentenced the last of three men implicated in a plot to torch homes in the city of Warren to collect the insurance money.

Forty-nine-year old Daryl Evans appeared in U.S. District Court on Thursday and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

Evans pleaded guilty in April to multiple counts of mail fraud, mail fraud conspiracy, using fire in the commission of a felony, and destroying property used in interstate commerce.

A federal grand jury last year handed up an Evans and two others.  Maurice Evans and David White have already been sentenced to prison after pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

According to the indictment, Daryl Evans bought homes at 1628 Hamilton Street SW and 267 Parkman Road in Warren and rented them out to tenants.

Investigators say that on August 19, 2013, Maurice Evans gave an arsonist cash and drugs to set fire to the Hamilton Street home. The indictment does not name the alleged arsonist.

The fire didn't entirely destroy the home. Investigators say Daryl Evans collected insurance money to make repairs, only to have Maurice Evans set fire to the house again on April 14, 2014, according to the indictment.

Federal prosecutors say Daryl Evans hired David White to torch the Parkman Road home on January 4, 2015, promising to share proceeds from the insurance claim with White.

The indictment says State Farm Insurance paid out a more than $138,000 in claims for the three fires at the two homes.