KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 70-year-old woman pleaded guilty in Thursday for trying to hire someone to burn down a building she owned in Kansas City, Missouri.
Mia Jamison of Gladstone, entered the plea to one count of soliciting a crime of violence — specifically, to maliciously destroy a building by arson — and one count of making a false statement to investigators of the ATF.
A news release from the United States Attorney's Office in KCMO states Johnson wanted to burn down a building she owned near the corner of west 39th Street and Bell Avenue.
Jamison told an undercover ATF agent in April 2019 she was going to lose the building in a civil lawsuit and wanted it burned, the news release states.
The building in April 2019 was home to 39th World of Spirits, Bob Wasabi Kitchen and Sahara Sheesha Lounge.
Although Jamison told the undercover agent she had $1.5 million in insurance on the building, the building was actually insured for $2 million.
Jamison agreed to pay $150,000 to burn the building.
She gave him an initial $3,500 and said to make the fire look like an accident.
The agent told her he would set the fire between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. in an effort to limit harm to the tenants.
The scheme came to end on April 29, 2019, when federal investigators when to Jamison's house.
She would not admit to requesting or hiring a person to burn down her building.
The agents then told her there was no fire.
No sentencing date has been set.
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