A Clarendon man who admitted setting fire to his electronics store in December and then making it look like the arson was ordered by corrupt law enforcement officers pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of making a false statement to the FBI.
Under the plea agreement, Benjamin Martin, who was originally charged with arson, will eventually be sentenced to two years in prison if U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes agrees to accept the negotiated deal after reviewing a presentence report.
Martin admitted Monday that on Dec. 12 he set fire to his computer- and cellphone-repair business, Martinegrity Solutions, by throwing two lighter-fluid doused towels into the attic, where he had placed firewood, and then using a long lighter to ignite the towels.
The Madison Street business was at the end of a building housing four businesses that shared attic space, but it wasn’t clear whether the other businesses received any damage.
According to court documents, Martin called 911 to report the fire, saying he was at home when an alarm company alerted him about an activated motion detector at the store, prompting him to go there and discover smoke coming out of the roof. Martin later told law enforcement agents he told the alarm company not to notify police because he suspected a tree frog jumping around at the store had set off the alarm again.
The documents show Martin later filed an insurance claim with Farm Bureau Insurance, and an investigator for the company determined the fire was set and no forced entry had been made to the building.
On Jan. 4, Martin met with an FBI agent “to provide information about law enforcement corruption,” and showed the agent a text message he claimed he had received from the arsonist, according to his plea agreement. The text message said in part that a specific officer “paid me 1000$ 2 burn ur biz” and “wants 2 kill u. … Betta leave town fast. He gon get u.”
But according to the plea agreement, Martin actually sent the text message to himself, using a prepaid phone card.
An FBI agent’s probable-cause affidavit said Martin also claimed to have received a threatening message through Facebook, and reported that earlier in December, he had received two threatening letters destroyed in the fire.