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Prosecutors lay out facts in arson case
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A Warren man facing an eight-count indictment after being accused of arranging for three fires to be set in an arson-for-profit scheme had all three insurance claims paid out to him because investigators could not prove he was responsible for the arsons, federal prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors laid out their case this week against Daryl Evans, who goes on trial beginning in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio before Judge James S. Gwin.
Two of his co-defendants, David White and Evans’ brother Maurice Evans already have pleaded guilty in the case.
Prosecutors accuse Daryl Evans of asking his brother to arrange to set fire Aug. 19, 2013, to a Hamilton Street Southwest home in Warren he was renting out while the tenant was in the hospital.
The brief said Maurice Evans found a drug addict to set the fire for drugs and cash.
Daryl Evans collected an insurance check, renovated the home and had his brother set fire to the house April 14, 2014. Again, Daryl Evans collected a check even though the fire was an arson because there was no evidence he was involved in the arson.
In a Jan. 4, 2015, fire of a Parkman Road home in Warren owned by Daryl Evans, the brief said his brother refused to set fire to that home because he thought a third fire would be risky, so Daryl Evans had White set the fire, the brief said.
Insurance investigators this time deposed Daryl Evans, but he received a third check even though the fire was ruled an arson.
When the FBI started investigating in 2015, Maurice Evans admitted his role and agreed to record his conversations with White and his brother, the brief said. Three of those recordings will be used in the trial.
Prosecutors also said even though the homes in Warren were vacant when the fires were set, Daryl Evans had plans to rent them out again, which meets the legal standards for one of the charges he faces, destroying or damaging property used in interstate commerce.