CAREY GETS FEDERAL TIME FOR ARSON
15 years for man who burned his business

A business owner from southern Cameron County will spend more than 15 years in federal prison for setting fire to his convenience store in 2001.

John F. Carey Jr., 63, was sentenced in U.S. Middle District Court last week to 15 years and three months after being convicted of torching Carey's Country Store in Sinnemahoning.

U.S. District Senior Judge Malcolm Muir handed down the sentence on counts of mail fraud, arson and use of fire to commit a felony.

Carey's attorney, William Miele, asked for a shorter sentence, pointing out that Carey would be an old man when he is released and would have no assets with which to pay a fine.

However, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Rocktashel, asked for a sentence of more than 16 years. He pointed out that Carey had endangered firefighters who responded and tried to cheat his insurance company out of $380,000 by setting the fire.

After nearly two full days of deliberations last March, jurors in U.S. Middle District Court, Williamsport, last March returned with a guilty verdict. Carey's trial lasted the better part of a month, as about four dozen witnesses took the stand to describe his actions before and after the fire, and to present physical evidence from the scene.

Carey and his now ex-wife operated the store. Initially, Pa. State Police investigators did not file criminal charges. However, the insurance company contested Carey's claim - and the police conclusion -- that the fire was accidental in origin.

A Cameron County jury ruled in the insurance company's favor following a civil trial in Emporium. Carey was represented in that case by Port Allegany attorney Harold B. Fink.

Carey was later indicted on federal charges. He fled and was eventually apprehended in Virginia. Prosecutors alleged that he started the fire to collect the insurance policy. They said the Careys were having marital problems at the time and had defaulted on a $153,000 mortgage.

Among the incriminating evidence introduced by Rocktashel was testimony that the defendant had removed valuables from the property shortly before the fire was discovered.

Miele claimed the prosecution was unable to prove that his client set the fire. He suggested that other parties who stood to benefit from the insurance payout may have set it.