Missouri Man Admits to Fire That Destroyed his Auction Barn

An eastern Missouri businessman has pleaded guilty in federal court to setting fire to his livestock auction barn and horse trailers.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 65-year-old Gregory Michael Cromer of Cedar Hill, Mo., admitted in his plea on Thursday that he was in debt for more than $1 million in January 2009 when he set fire to Cromer’s St. Clair Livestock Center in Franklin County.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean Hoag says the trailers were going to be repossessed later that morning. No animals were injured or killed in the fire.

Cromer was indicted last year on three counts of damaging or destroying buildings. Sentencing is Sept. 23.