Maryland Man Gets 4 Years for Arson, Insurance Fraud

A man who pleaded guilty to plotting to burn down his house to collect insurance proceeds has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Forty-nine-year-old Saleh Fakhoury of Lutherville was also ordered to pay more than $800,000 in restitution at sentencing Tuesday in federal court in Baltimore.

According to his plea agreement, Fakhoury was deeply in debt and wanted the insurance proceeds to pay off creditors.

Fakhoury’s house was destroyed in a fire on March 14, 2009. Prosecutors say Fakhoury plotted with an employee at his pizza restaurant to have the house set on fire.