Iowa Man Convicted of Arson, Insurance Fraud

A Davenport, Iowa, man faces up to 15 years in prison when he’s sentenced in May for trying to burn down his home.

The Quad-City Times reports that a Scott County jury convicted 47-year-old Brian Earl Lebs of second-degree arson and insurance fraud on Wednesday.

Davenport Fire Marshal Mike Hayman says firefighters were called to Lebs’ house on Nov. 17, 2012, for a fire. Hayman says an investigation showed the fire was intentionally set in the home’s basement, and that Lebs had extinguished the pilot lights on his gas stove and turned on two of its burners to leak natural gas into the house.

Had enough gas built up in the house, Hayman said, responding firefighters could have been injured or killed in an explosion.