SEATTLE — An Everett man who helped disguise a 2004 arson as a hate crime was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday.
He also will be required to pay $200,000 restitution for damaging the building that housed the Continental Spices market in south Everett.
Naveed Kahn, 25, testified against the owner of the store, Mizra Akram, 40, who also was found guilty by a judge in February and was sentenced to more than four years behind bars.
The government said that Kahn, 25, and Akram, a Pakistani immigrant, conspired to burn down the store, which was having financial trouble.
The men painted anti-Arab slogans on the inside, attempting to make it look like a hate crime.
“I cannot even begin to fathom the fear that you placed (in the Arab community) when you let them believe that someone was after them and would burn down their property and endanger them in that way,” U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman told Kahn at sentencing.
The July 9, 2004, fire was investigated as an arson from the start, but suspicion soon turned toward Akram after the store’s financial records were reviewed.
Akram was the owner of the Pakistani and Middle Eastern grocery store. In 2003 and 2004 the store’s finances went downhill, and Akram recruited Kahn to help him set fire to the store for the insurance, the government alleged.
The two set things up the evening of July 8. Khan returned to the store early the next morning and set it ablaze, according to testimony.
The government alleged that the two tried to divert attention from themselves by spray-painting anti-Muslim graffiti throughout the store. Kahn pleaded guilty in 2005.
Akram was found guilty of conspiracy to commit arson in February.
Akram was first tried for the arson in early 2006, but a jury could not reach a unanimous agreement. Jurors were deadlocked at 10-2 in favor of conviction and Pechman then declared a mistrial.
In both trials, the defense maintained that Kahn set the fire by himself, and Akram was innocent.
During the investigation of the arson, police also discovered that Akram had used Continental Spices to commit more than $30,000 in food stamp fraud.
In addition to illegally redeeming food stamps for cash, Akram cheated food stamp recipients by repeatedly swiping their food stamp cards through the debit machine. He hid the thefts by telling customers that transactions had not gone through.
A jury also convicted Akram of food stamp fraud charges, and he was sentenced to an additional 18 months in prison for that.
The case was investigated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Everett Police Department.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.
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