Arkansas Developer Gets 10 Years After Arson Conviction

A lawyer and real-estate developer has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay an insurance company $1.3 million in restitution after being convicted of fraud and arson for starting a fire that destroyed his family’s home in an upscale west Little Rock neighborhood.

At Aaron Jones’ sentencing, U.S. District Judge Brian Miller also fined Jones $125,000.

Jones was found guilty Sept. 28 of mail fraud and using fire in the commission of a felony. He was heavily in debt when the house burned in May 2008. He claimed intruders bound him and started the fire.

Jones asked to serve his sentence at the federal prison in Texarkana, Texas.